Tales of the Magnus Freelancing Corporation
by Ryuuzaki-kun
Summary: A tales of series crossover fic. The adventures of Leon Magnus and his misfit crew of freelancers. When you have a low wage job and the sanest person next to you is Veigue, you know something is wrong. AU, slight OOC
1. Sage's Bodyguards Part 1

A "Tales of series" crossover fic, yup. Basically, a multi-"arc" fic starring a team of freelancers composed of misc. chars from the Tales of Series. I'm not sure what the time era is for the fic. It's kind of like the "Naruto-era" where there is electricity, TV's, yet they have no cars and they still fight with knives.

Disclaimer: I only own the various plot stories in this.

The characters shown will probably act somewhat OOC to suit the story. They'll also be put into random roles like...a singer or a cousin to another random character. Also, the stories in this fic will change from time to time. One might be a long, serious arc while another story might just be a short joke arc. Ah well, please enjoy this "Tales of series" random mix.

* * *

"Augh!" Luke shouted with utmost annoyance, "Hey! Leon! We're out of food, again!"

With a growl, Leon turned to Luke, continuing to push the vacuum cleaner under the couch, "Well then…go get some!"

With a sneer, Luke turned away with his hands on his hips, "I can't be caught doing something as trivial as that! That is servant work. I'm the son of royalty. I can't be seen bringing food into this two-bit freelancing company!"

Indeed it was true Luke was royalty and it was also true that he was trapped working in a washed-up freelancing organization with several companions. His father was close friends with Leon's father. In fact, they had known each other since high school. Even as the two split from levels, Luke's father ascending into royalty and Leon's father descending into petty work, the two remained best of friends. As a way for Luke to learn discipline, his father had forced him under the hand of Leon who currently ran the freelancing organization.

"And what kind of name is Magnus Freelance Corporation? It has no ring to it!" Luke complained again, "And this apartment is so small. I can walk from wall-to-wall in a second! This carpet is filthy. Leon, do something about it!"

Leon, for some unknown reason, was pegged the starter of all these problems, turned to Luke, "What do you think!" Obviously annoyed by the complaining man's presence, "Stop complaining and go do something productive!"

Luke sneered and crossed his arms. He plopped back onto the cheap leather couch and reached for the remote. Flipping through the channels, he stopped at the celebrity channel, "Hey, hey, Tear is on!" Wiping his mouth with his thumb, he leaned in forward to watch, "Man…her melons are huge!"

Leon rolled his eyes and continued vacuuming the carpet. Growling at the large stain on the carpet that was caused when Luke accidentally knocked over a coke can, complaining that the apartment was too small and he didn't have enough elbow room.

Just as Luke listened to Tear sing, a commercial flipped on and a very familiar blonde singer began.

"CLAIRE!" The oh-so familiar voice of her biggest fan boy screeched. Coming from the room right behind Leon, Veigue rushed out, knocking Leon to the ground as he did so. Snatching the remote away from Luke, Veigue watched the blonde haired woman sing on the TV screen.

As soon as the commercial ended, Veigue turned back to his room and walked in as if nothing had happened. Veigue was a reliable man. He did his work right. He stayed calm in the toughest situations. His hobbies never inconvenienced anyone. He even sustained with less food than the rest. His only problem was his love for the famous diva Claire Bennett. Leon swore that if Veigue had to pick between saving the world or saving Claire, he'd pick Claire.

Luke looked around, "Huh? Where's the other stooge?" Leon replied to him with a shrug and continued his vacuuming.

As is summoned by Luke himself, Stahn barged in through the door with a half eaten pizza in his hand.

"Food!" Luke shouted as he ran over to Stahn, snatching away the pizza.

Stuffing his face with pizza, Stahn turned over to Leon, "Hey! Leon! I got some pizza! I had four with me but…I kind of ate them. There's still half of one left!"

"Stahn!" Leon scolded, "We're already dirt poor as it is! Don't waste money on pizza!"

Stahn paused for a sec as if he had to slowly take in what Leon was saying. Calmly, he patted Leon on the head, "Relax! We'll just make the money back later!"

"Unless you have some magical way of making money…"

"We'll just get a job, charge extra, and boom! We'll be okay." Stahn replied in his calmest voice.

"Don't say it like it's that easy. We haven't gotten a job in weeks!"

Stahn shook his head, "Business is just slow. I mean, who really needs a freelance team during Christmas time! I'm sure things will pick up sometime soon."

Leon sighed heavily. Stahn and his positive attitude were totally oblivious to anything outside the circumference of an extra large pizza. His eyes narrowed as he saw Luke, dropping crumbs from his pizza onto the carpet as he ate.

"Watch it!" Leon shouted, "I just vacuumed!"

Luke shrugged and continued to eat, "Then vacuum again!" Luke leaned back on the couch, accidentally knocking a can of flat coke onto the carpet.

Ready to explode, Leon glared daggers at Luke. Immediately sensing this, Stahn grabbed the smaller, black-haired man and held him down by his arms.

"Let go! I'm going to kill him!"

"Now Leon, calm down. Luke is just being Luke, there's…" He was cut off by Claire singing on TV, "Oh crap."

In an instant, Veigue rushed out of his room, knocking Stahn and Leon over like bowling pins. At that moment, Stahn let go of Leon and Leon lunged at Luke, bashing him on the head.

"Watch it!" Luke hissed as he punched back.

Just like that, a fight broke out between the two. Stahn, struggling to keep the two under control, soon got pulled into the fight. Veigue merely stood there watching Claire on the TV.

In the midst of all the fighting, the phone began to ring. Reaching his arm out, Leon grabbed the phone while fighting off Luke, "Hello? Welcome to Magnus Freelancing Corporation."

"Hey Leon, it's me, Jade." The deeper voiced man spoke.

Jade worked under Luke's father for several years as captain of a military team and captain of a scientific research lab. During a slump in the research lab fund, Jade has taken the duty of escorting Luke to different places. Though Luke never really enjoyed being followed by an 'old man', the two looked out for one another. As soon as the slump ended, Jade returned to his job but still continued to look out for Luke.

"Oh, are you looking for…" Leon paused as a fist came into the side of his head. He replied to that with a kick to Luke's face, "…Luke?"

"No, no, not today. I have a job request for you."

Leon paused, knowing Jade's love of using sarcasm, "Look, we aren't in the mood right now for jokes."

"This isn't a joke. I've received a request of assistance from one of my colleagues." There was a loud clatter as Luke took another punch from Leon, "Um…is there something wrong back there?"

Seeing that Leon wouldn't fight back, Stahn immediately restrained Luke.

Leon nodded thanks to Stahn and turned back to the phone, "Everything is under control. What's the job?"

"You see, one of my lead scientists emailed me the other day asking for some bodyguard service. It seems strange for her to ask so. Raine is usually very self dependant. Anyway, so I decided to give this job to you guys. She's asked that you meet her at her house. The address is 24 Gossamer road."

"Alright, we'll get there when we can. Thank you, Jade." With that, he hung up the phone.

Luke looked at the phone, "Wait! That was Jade! Did he say anything about letting me leave this hellhole?"

"No," Leon replied bluntly, "He gave us a job."

Stahn let go of Luke and punched his fists into the air, "Yes! I told you!"

Luke brushed off his clothes and straightened out the creases, "Damn. That's a shame."

Calmly, Veigue turned to Leon, crossing his arms in the process, "So then, Leon, what is the job?"

Leon walked to the door, "I'll brief you about it while we walk there."

* * *

"Atchoo!" Stahn sneezed as they walked through the freezing cold, "Hey Leon…are we there yet?"

"For the last time, if we were there already, we wouldn't be out here!" Leon shouted. Anyone could tell this black hair man was easily frustrated by his dysfunctional crew of misfits.

Veigue walked calmly, unbothered by the cold, "Hey Leon. Why were we given the job? Jade said this was one of the top scientists right? Why would he give an important job to freelancers like us?"

"Who knows…?" Leon replied as he turned the corner, "There it is." He muttered as he pointed to the average-looking house before them.

"What?" Luke scoffed, "I thought Jade said she was really important. Why's she living in something as trashy as this place?"

Veigue closed his eyes, "Luke, it is not nice to comment on other people's houses like that even if it is rather trashy."

"Veigue! Luke!" Leon barked, "Don't be so disrespectful! We haven't had a job in weeks. Our landlady is tired of getting paid with debt. Don't blow this one!"

"Well, excuse me princess!" Luke hissed, "I don't really care about this freelance thing anyway. It'll never last."

They were interrupted by the sound of a doorbell. The three turned to Stahn who stood right by the door. With a creak, the door opened, revealing a small white haired boy.

Stahn stared at the kid, "Uh…are you Raine?"

The kid shook his head shyly, "No…who are you?"

Leon pushed past Stahn, "We were hired by Raine to act as bodyguards."

"Oh! Come in! I'm Genius by the way!" The four were rushed into the house by the child.

As soon as the door was closed and everyone was set for staying, Genius rushed in front of them.

"I need you to do something for me."

Luke waved his hand at the kid, "Look, we're here as bodyguards for some woman. We're not here to play around with you."

"I know! Just listen to me; I was the one who hired you!" Genius squeaked in his voice, "You see…my sister Raine has been coming home with bruises and scrapes so I began skipping school to see what's going on. I saw people attacking her! I'm getting worried so…I want you to be her bodyguards!"

* * *

Yeah...sorry for making Luke look like a total ass. I personally love asshole chars, they make stories so much more fun. Also, sorry for making Leon the "Housewife" char, I'm just cruel to my fav characters. Please review and tell me what you think! 


	2. Sage's Bodyguards Part 2

I've always wondered how many people were actually reading this and if all the hits on the stats just belong to me...anyway. This whole multi-arc fic will, hopefully, be just random little joke chapters. Eventually, it'll escalate to a much larger story

* * *

Stahn blinked for a while, "So…you sent that email to Jade?" Genius nodded in reply, "So…what do you expect to pay us?"

Genius paused, "Well…I don't know. I was hoping that Jade would help cover that."

"Alright then," Luke exclaimed, "Team, let's go home!"

Genius ran in front of the man, "No! Please don't! What if my sister gets killed?"

"I'm sorry…Genius." Leon interrupted, "As much as I hate to agree with Luke, it's the truth. We don't have enough money to pay our rent. We can't spend our time working for free." Knocking the breath out of him, Stahn smacked him on the back playfully, "What!"

"Come on, Leon!" Stahn shouted, "He's just a kid and this is for the good of the people!"

Luke rolled his eyes, "No wonder Jade phoned us! He knew we would cave in and work for free. Well…I'm not falling for Jade's tricks!" Stomping towards the door, Luke grabbed the knob, "Let's go!"

Tiny hands grabbed onto Luke's coat, "No! Please? My sister might die!" The small child cried. Tears built up in his eyes, "Please?"

"Tears don't work on me kid!"

"Luke," The calm voice of Veigue sliced through the air, "Can't you see this child is suffering? As Claire mentioned in her ninth interview, helping those in need is its own reward…are you going to turn down this child?"

"But Veigue," Leon retorted, "We don't have the time! We don't have the money!"

"Then let's make time for this!" Veigue exclaimed.

"I'm with Veigue!" Stahn added in, fire burning in his eyes, "We'll help Raine for the good of the people!"

With a hiss, Luke caved in, "Fine, fine, fine! It's not like we have anything better to do. Raine might actually be hot…and have huge melons." Luke muttered under his breath.

In response to the three, Leon slapped his palm against his forehead, "I'm surrounded by idiots."

* * *

"Aha!" Jade exclaimed in excitement, clapping his hands together, "So, you've decided to take the offer even though you are aware you'll be paid nothing?"

Leon sighed in annoyance, "Don't rub it in."

Jade chuckled and looked through his closet, "Alright then, I'm glad you came over to my place first. I'll get you the proper uniforms."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait," Luke interrupted, "Uniforms? They aren't tacky, are they?"

Jade continued sorting through his closet, "No, no, not at all!"

"Alright, they're tacky." Luke muttered to the others.

Four uniforms of different assorted colours were pulled out by Jade.

"What the…" Luke picked up the uniform, "They look just like your clothes!"

"What do you expect?" Jade replied calmly, "I do work at the research lab."

Leon, being the shortest of the four, examined the clothes thoroughly, "You wouldn't happen to have a smaller size, would you?"

"Of course not,"

Leon sighed in annoyance once again, "Great…"

Stahn gave a large grin and examined the clothes thoroughly, "This might be the fanciest thing I'll ever put on!"

"You have low standards." Luke hissed as he snatched the crimson uniform, "This is mine." With that, he walked into the bathroom, shutting the door tightly in the process.

Without any words or gestures, Veigue merely took the black uniform and began changing in the room. Whistling in excitement as he did so, he donned the brown uniform and examined himself in the mirror.

"Fanciest clothes I've ever been in," He mentioned with a large grin.

Leon growled as he rolled up the long sleeves of his navy blue uniform that covered his hands, "Damn this."

With a sigh, Luke walked out of the bathroom, "I'm burning these after I'm done with them."

"Well, looks like you're all enjoying your gifts." Jade muttered in calm yet sarcastic voice, "The only people allowed in the lab are scientists such as Raine and I or lab assistants. The chairman, also known as Luke's father, does not like stray people wandering in. I shall register you all as lab assistants." Turning to his computer, he began the registration.

"So, Jade," Stahn leaned in forward, "How is this Raine person like?"

"She's a nice woman. She talks with people very often but then there are times where she'll wander off by herself and others are too busy to follow her."

"Does she have large melons?"

Ignoring Luke, Jade continued, "I promised her a high position because of her hard work but she always turns it down."

Veigue stroked his chin and thought to himself, "Perhaps…she is being threatened?"

"What?" Jade exclaimed, "By whom? Everyone in the lab is like family and no foreign people are allowed in."

"Or perhaps it is all a façade?" Veigue muttered again in his calm, sultry voice, "Maybe there is someone harassing her in the shadows? Maybe it is someone after her work?"

Stahn scratched his head, "What is 'Vague' talking about?"

Jade gave him a shrug and produced several name tags, "You can find out when you protect her. Don't make yourself a nuisance or they'll kick you out." He began handing out the name tags, each of them had their names etched into the card, "Keep hold of these at all times."

Leon took the card and clipped it to the flap of his coat, "Don't make ourselves nuisances, huh? We're going to get kicked out for sure…"

* * *

It wasn't a long walk to the lab. Jade, being the captain of the science team and all, lived close to the lab. They first entered a nicely decorated hospital.

"What?" Luke snorted as he crossed his arms, "Your lab is just a hospital? You made it sound so interesting!"

Jade gave a chuckle and walked into a stray office, "It is just a front." Walking up to the computer, he typed in a quick code on the keyboard. As soon as he pressed the enter key, the bookcase before them shifted over, "And here we go."

"Whoa! It's like the matrix!" Stahn exclaimed in excitement as he followed Jade down the passage.

"What's with all the secrecy?" Leon asked with suspicion dripping from his voice.

There was a long pause as they walked down the passage. Jade then turned his head and gave them a smile, "You'll keep this a secret, right?" The four nodded, "Alright, you see, we're researched advanced stem cell research, cell replication, flesh and cellular enhancement, and applying magic to living beings."

Stahn gasped in surprise, "Wow! That's amazing!"

"So in other words," Leon muttered with a hiss, "You're experimenting with humans?"

"Don't say it like that." Jade replied with a smile, "We're doing this for the greater good. Ah, we're here!" His hand clasped around a doorknob. Twisting it, he swung open the door revealing the laboratory.

It was utterly magnificent. Leon immediately realized what all those tax dollars were for when he saw this technological wonder. It was like walking into a different time far in the future.

"Don't be too loud." Jade alerted the team, "Raine will be at the stem cell research branch. Just move left of here and follow the signs." Giving them a nod, he split up from the team and walked into his own district.

"Alright," Leon huddled the team together, "Stay quiet and try not to look out of place."

"Yeah, yeah," Luke murmured as he began walking.

As they walked, other scientists began giving them confused glances.

Stahn leaned down to Leon, unintentionally breathing into his face, "Hey Leon, I don't think our disguises are working."

"Don't worry. As long as we have these name tags, we should be safe." His hand immediately clasped around Stahn's face, "Now stop breathing on me."

Veigue examined everywhere carefully, "Hey, how do we tell which one's Raine?"

"That's easy!" Luke replied, "She's…um…"

"Please get me a coffee." A strong, female voice commanded to her assistant.

"Yes, Miss Sage!" A shy, shrill female voice shouted. From behind tall large containment tubes, Philia ran out, stumbling as she did.

In mid-stumble, Philia saw Stahn and his team, "Eh? Stahn? Why are you here?"

Taking a moment to recognize this girl, Stahn pondered for a while, "Dr. Philia?"

"Yeah," Philia replied quietly, "I didn't think you were into science."

"I thought you were a doctor." Stahn replied, "Why are you here?"

"Ahem," Veigue cleared his throat quietly, "Stahn, remember our mission?"

Stahn nodded, "Yeah, I just haven't seen Dr. Philia in a long time. She was the one that nursed me back to health when I was in the hospital."

Philia giggled at his expression, "Don't worry. It was nothing."

Stahn turned back to Philia, "So, why are you working here?"

"Oh! A doctor is just my cover. I'm actually a scientist here." She examined the team carefully, "I don't think I've ever seen any of you before…"

Stahn cleared his throat, "Ah, we're here on a bodyguard mission."

"Stahn!" Leon shouted as he pulled said man back, "Don't go telling everyone!"

"It's just Philia! Besides, she could help us find Raine."

"Miss Sage?" Philia butted in, "I work under her." She pointed over to a bluish haired woman, "She's right there." She gasped, "Oh! I have to get her coffee! I'll see you later, Stahn!"

Luke gave a scoff and held his hands on his hips as he looked at Raine, "She's not that hot after all!"

"Luke," Leon hissed, "That's not the point here. Now, we have to blend in."

The four waited for a while.

"Um…" Stahn murmured, "Leon, how do we do that?"

* * *

To anyone who might be reading, this "arc" will probably have two more chapters. Please review!


	3. Sage's Bodyguards Part 3

Now I really doubt anyone's reading this, but heck, its fun putting random Tales of chars into strange situations. Might've made Luke a little too nice though since this is his "Before haircut" mode.

* * *

While it took them a while to blend into their surroundings, the four eventually did so. Luke crowded together with a bunch of observers and pretended to take down notes. Leon tinkered around with a stray microscope. Stahn stuck by Philia. And Veigue clicked around on the computers.

"So, that's how cellular replication works. It combines magic with stem cells." Philia explained to Stahn, "Do you get it now?

A small pause of silence filled the air.

"Um…no,"

Philia giggled and turned back to her work, "Same old Stahn." The screen flashed colours as she continued typing, "You haven't change at all."

"Well, I might've. Heck, you only knew back then in the hospital room for a week or so!"

Philia giggled once again. It wasn't exactly a happy giggle. It seemed more like a cover for something else, "I guess…"

Stahn immediately noticed this. It wasn't clear for the others but Stahn could pick up emotions very quickly, "Philia?"

"I'll get us both coffees!" She shouted abruptly as she made her way back to the refreshments table.

Something was definitely suspicious. However, Stahn was either too stupid or too kind to interrogate someone like Philia.

* * *

As soon as Luke's science group dissolved, Luke began wandering around once more. With a heavy sigh, he wandered over to Veigue who seemed rather intrigued by the information on his computer.

"Huh?" Luke muttered to Veigue, "Are you playing a game?" Leaning over, he held his balance against the back of Veigue's chair, "What are you looking at…" The confused Luke whispered to Veigue as he examined the text covered screen. He was ignored by Veigue, "Hey!"

"Luke, please be quiet." Veigue muttered in a cold and commanding voice unfamiliar to him.

Completely caught off guard, Luke closed his mouth and watched as Veigue continued to type at an inhumanly fast pace. Veigue's eyes not leaving the screen for even a second.

"What the…" Luke whispered to himself.

* * *

Many stray scientists came up to Leon, most of them female and most of them for flirting purposes. Leon merely hushed them and walked away. He always made sure that he kept a close eye on Raine no matter where he went.

"Hey! Hello there!" A young male voice shouted to Leon. Keel approached the man with a welcoming smile, "I haven't seen you here before. Who are you working under?"

Leon stuttered for a while as he looked to his name tag, "Jade."

"Whoa! You got some crazy prestige, I bet." He replied with a chuckle, "Don't try to hide it."

Leon narrowed his eyes. Had this scientist seen through his identity? "Hide?"

"You're spying on Raine. You want her?" Keel snorted, raising an eyebrow in the process.

Leon rolled his eyes, "Of course not."

Keel gave him a nudge and a wink, "Come on. She's single." When he looked up at Leon's narrowing glare, Keel immediately backed up, "Just kidding! Are you always this uptight?" Leon said nothing, "Oh. Why don't I show you something cool?" Attempting to use his research to break the ice between the two was all Keel could think of.

Leon decided to follow along. If he had stayed and continued to spy on Raine, Keel would eventually have his suspicions or he'd come up with strange rumours.

"I know Jade's team is all caught up with cellular replication and all that such but…" Keel quickly operated on the controller at the station, "You'll like this!"

Was shock what Leon felt when he saw this? Or was it amazement? Either way, he knew it overwhelmed him when he saw it. Before him was an empty, water filled tank. As soon as a purple light shot at it from below, the transparent image of a large bird like creature was shown.

"What are these…?" Leon whispered to Keel.

"Artificial summon spirits," After a second of visual amusement, Keel pulled a few levers and the light, along with the image, was gone, "We're integrating magic and with living souls to make summon spirits." He paused for a second, "Shouldn't you know that?"

A cough came from him, giving him at least another second to think things through, "I was merely hired by Jade for my…stem cell knowledge." He wove up his lie quickly, "I'm still not used to everything here."

Keel shrugged, "Heck makes enough sense to me." He gave him thumbs up, "You're…what…15? 16?"

"16,"

"Yeah, I'm 17 but most people think I'm younger. It's good to have someone close to my age to talk to." Keel remarked, "I better get back to my station. My break is almost over. What's your name?"

"Leon," Reluctantly, he told the man. It would only be more suspicious if he said nothing.

"Leon, familiar name," Keel remarked, "My name's Keel. Let's talk again later!" With a wave, Keel walked away.

Sighing, upset over the time that was wasted, Leon turned back to Raine's station. He nearly jumped when he saw the station completely empty, "Damn…" He looked around frantically, spying Stahn standing by himself dumbly, "Stahn!"

"Huh? Leon?"

"Where did Raine go?"

Stahn looked around, "Um…I don't know. I was talking with Philia and then she left. There must be a long line at the refreshment table."

Leon sighed. He couldn't tell if he was sighing because Raine had disappeared or if he was sighing over Stahn being a plain idiot.

"Come on," Leon grumbled, "Let's go look for Raine again."

* * *

"Man, man…" Luke complained as he wandered around with his hands behind his head, "This place is boring." He continued wandering around till he reached a station where everyone had left for a break.

Out of boredom, Luke began pressing random buttons and pulling random levels. He stopped when he heard two voices whispering at each other. Using the reflection from the glass containers, he immediately saw Raine and a second man wearing glasses.

"Come on, the money," The man snapped.

"Dist, I can't get you anymore." Raine muttered quietly in reply, "Can we just…"

"Drop this? No way. You know you had this coming. Because of you, I'll never get a higher position."

"But Dist," Raine muttered quietly again, "I've never accepted the position."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. But I'll never get the position because you'll be in the way."

"You want me to leave? That could cost me my life. And I have a brother to take care of."

"Then, you think it's better for them to know that you've been stealing Philia's work? Is it better for them to know that you've been doing so because her work is more advanced and since she's merely an assistance scientist, she'll never be given credit?" The man extended his hand again, "Raine, just give me the money and I'll stay quiet for another day."

"Dist, this is wrong!" A loud smack of skin connecting to skin rung through the air, "Dist…" Raine murmured under her breath.

"I made it clear what would happen if you didn't pay up. Didn't those people I hired show you what?"

Luke growled and thought back to what Genius had said. He crouched down and made his way slowly to the two.

Raine nodded, "I…this is wrong."

"And stealing Philia's work isn't?"

"You know that anyone who leaves has a high chance of being killed."

"To ensure the secrecy of this place…blah…blah…" Dist reached out and grasped Raine's shoulder tightly, "Now then, the money. Or maybe I'll send my 'people' over to your brother."

Raine's face contorted in mixed emotions. In the end, she settled to defeat, reached into her pocket, and pulled out several bills, "That's all I have."

"Good enough." Dist pocketed the money, "You can pick between two things. You can leave this place and risk your life or you can lose all your money to me and rot slowly with your brother." With a devious smirk, he walked past Luke hiding behind the containment tanks, "Stealing MY precious promotion…"

As soon as Luke was sure that Dist was gone, he poked his head out to see Raine. She just stood there, her back facing him. In the reflection of the glass container, he saw her face twisted in anger, shame, and confusion. Raine glanced up, looking at the glass container before her, and saw Luke's head stuck out from behind a containment tube.

"Ah!" She gasped as she turned around.

"Ah!" Luke shouted in reply as he fell over.

Raine immediately ran over to him. She reached out a hand and pulled him up, "Are you alright?" Luke nodded in reply. She paused for a second, "Did you…see all of that?" With a sigh, Luke nodded again, "I see…"

"But, I don't work here!" He muttered quickly. Raine gave him a confused look, "I'm not a spy or anything. I was hired by your brother to look over you."

"…what?" Raine whispered.

Luke casually put his hands on his hips and continued. It wasn't like they were told not to tell Raine about this, "You see, your brother saw you coming home with bruises and such so he asked us to be your bodyguards." His words sent Raine crying, "Ah! Oh…crap." He looked around, "Uh…don't cry?"

Raine smiled and wiped her tears, "He would go to such extreme measures."

"Come on, we have to tell Jade about this."

"No!" Raine shouted, "You can't. If you do, Dist will only tell Jade what I have done. Then…"

Luke shrugged, "You'll lose your job. It's alright. You can find another one!"

"It's not like that." Raine replied calmly, "This place is completely hidden from the open eye. Anyone who leaves this place, depending on the trust they have with the rest of the scientists, might die." Raine's expression faded into sadness, "To know that I've been stealing research from my assistant, they'll execute me for sure." She closed her eyes, "I only stole the information because I needed the money to take care of my brother."

"And now," Luke murmured, "Dist is extorting the money from you. How did he find out?"

"He's always been after a higher position such as the position Jade is offering to me. He decided to look into my work. He noticed that it was near identical to one of my colleagues." She looked as if she was about to cry again.

Luke cringed and looked around, "Where are the others when you need them?"

"What do I do…?"

"Um…well…" He sighed, "You'll just…have to tell the truth."

"What?" Raine exclaimed, "But…you know what'll happen…"

"If you don't, Dist will eventually kill you. Once he's tapped out all your money, he'll send those thugs at you. Either way, it's a lose-lose situation. At least take away his last laugh, make sure he'll never get his precious position!"

Raine looked at him. Thinking through her options clearly, she smiled to him, "You're right."

"And if it gets bad, I'll bail you out!" He pondered for a while before a large grin lit his face, "I'm not the leader of my team for nothing!"

* * *

Sorry for making Dist seem like a major ass. I just couldnt find anyone else for the position and I've already planned Barbatos in somewhere. 


	4. Sage's Bodyguards Part 4

The conclusion to "Sage's Bodyguard". But! That's not the last of this fic! The next "arc" will be around two chapters or so. This is pretty much a starting chapter that makes lots of questions for the rest of the story

* * *

Without waiting a second, Luke and Raine headed over to Jade and several other scientists. Dist stood there as well, sipping a cup of tea.

Jade turned to Raine with a smile, "Ah, Raine, glad to see you." He then looked to Luke, "Uh…"

"I have something to tell you, Jade."

To the side, Leon was examining another summon spirit container. Stahn, not understanding what was fascinating about it, began looking around. His eyes locked onto Luke and Raine.

"Hey! Leon!" He grabbed Leon's arm tightly and dragged him over to Luke.

Luke turned to the two, "You two?"

Leon looked at the situation, "Luke, what's going on? What did you do?"

"A good thing," Luke replied smugly as the three turned back to Raine and Jade.

"…so, all this time, it has been Philia's work you've been seeing."

Dist, panicking quickly as anger rose through his body, reached into his coat pocket and grasped his phone.

Jade nodded in disappointment, "I see…"

"I just wanted to get money to take care of my brother. I know I shouldn't have done this. I am sorry."

Jade sighed and touched his forehead, "My, my, I shouldn't have asked Luke to do this after all." He whispered under his breath, "Anyway, Miss Sage, sadly, we must relieve you of your duties here. Fear not, though, you've gained our trust by telling us this directly."

"Thank you so much," Raine whispered as she bowed to Jade.

Luke shot a glare at Dist, "That isn't all." He pointed to Dist, his expression hardening, "This bastard extorted her for money and hired people to assault her when she failed to show it."

Jade looked to Raine and then to Dist, "Is this true?"

"Yes," Raine replied.

"This woman lies. I would never do such a thing."

"We have witnesses." Luke replied, "Several of them." He then gestured to Leon and Stahn. Though it was definitely a bluff, Dist wouldn't have the guts to call it.

Jade and several other scientists turned to Dist. Crossing his arms in the process, his eyes narrowed at the man, "Sorry Dist, you had such high potential. But, we're going to have to 'let you go'."

Dist cringed in fear as he said that. He could tell that they no longer trusted him. He would definitely execute him. In a panic, he rushed away from the team.

"Get him!" Jade shouted.

Stahn scratched his head, "Eh? He's just getting fired. What's he so scared of?"

Luke stayed quiet for a second. Leon swore he never saw Luke look so serious, "People in this lab can't leave. If they do, depending on how much people trust them, they might be executed."

Dist rushed to the stairs. Before he could make it, Philia stepped out from the blind turn and the two collided. They both fell to the ground giving the others enough time to catch him.

Philia rubbed her head, "That hurt!"

Jade offered his hand to Philia, "Here." Philia took his hand and he pulled her to her feet, "Now then, we're at a lack of science captains here. Would you like to lead?"

Philia clapped in excitement, "Really?"

As the two conversed, Dist was dragged away by several scientists. He looked at no one nor did his face show any hate or anger.

Raine sighed and walked over to her station, clearing up her possessions. Leon helped her pack up some things while the other two went to find Veigue.

As soon as Raine finished, she picked up all her possession in a bag, "Thank you…"

"Leon,"

"Leon…that name is really familiar." She shook her head, "Anyway, your leader really helped me."

Leon stopped and looked at her, "Leader?"

"The red-haired fellow,"

* * *

Luke gave a wave to Veigue by the computer, "Hey! We're going back now!"

Veigue stood up calmly and followed the two out.

The four and Raine left the hospital and began their walk back. As usual, Veigue walked calmly by himself and Leon argued with Luke.

"You're not leader! I am!" Leon barked.

"Oh please! You couldn't even lead your own game! You probably can't even last to the end of one!"

"What are you talking about? Bottom line is…you're not the leader!"

Raine laughed at the two as they bickered, "You four don't have to escort me. You've already done your job."

"No, no, we have to protect." Stahn replied, "Besides…" His expression hardened, "When we busted Dist…he took out his phone…"

As the four turned the corner, they were horrified by what they saw: Three burly thugs beaten on Genius in the middle. Raine gasped and ran to him, "Genius!"

Leon reached out and pulled her back, "Be careful, it's dangerous."

Stahn and Veigue stepped out in front of Raine, "Don't worry!" Stahn smirked as he talked, "We'll take care of these guys!"

In a few quick swipes, Stahn and Veigue finished off the three thugs. The three thugs couldn't stand the might of two high class swordsmen.

Stahn knelt down to Genius, picking him up slowly, "Hey?"

Genius looked up at him, "Huh…" His head then turned to the side where he spotted Raine, "Sister!" Rolling out of Stahn's grip, he rushed over to Raine only to stumble and fall into her hands, "Are you okay?"

Raine smiled and nodded, "Yeah. Thanks to you and the bodyguards you hired." She looked up to the four, "Thank you, all of you. I wish I could pay you somehow but…as you can tell, I'm a little strapped for cash."

Stahn gave a large grin and chuckled, "No worries!"

"I'll drop by anytime I can if I find a job offer for you." Finishing off, they said their goodbyes and Raine walked inside the house with her brother.

The four began walking back, quiet at first.

"You know," Luke remarked, "We should rename our company! How about…Fon Fabre Freelance corporation?"

Stahn pondered for a while, "FFF Corporation, catchy,"

"We are not renaming it!"

Luke snorted and crossed his arms, "Why not Leon? It's obvious who the true leader is! Heck, you didn't even do anything for Raine!"

"You just got a lucky break! Stahn and I would've figured it all out if we got there first."

"But you didn't!"

The two, once again, began to argue while Stahn attempted to break up the two. As the arguing prolonged, Stahn soon got caught up in it.

Veigue sighed and held his palm to his forehead, "I'm surrounded by idiots."

* * *

Next chapter: Wok with Philia. Please review! 


	5. Wok with Philia Part 1

The next arc of my fic! This was actually going to be a comedic arc but I decided to integrate the story into this. Not much else to say here though. Yeah, the title's a bad pun on this cooking show. I always wondered what happened to the guy. Anyway...on with the fic!

* * *

"Alright," Luke shouted, placing four plates down on a table, "Lunch!"

The four watched as steam rose from the pile of chopped up miscellaneous food.

Stahn, usually the one to fork down anything that looked edible, was actually having second thoughts about eating. He took his fork and prodded the strange creation Luke had made. Holding in his breath, Stahn tore off a small piece and placed it on his tongue. Choking immediately, he swallowed it and turned to Leon.

"Luke's cooking sure is avant-garde…" Stahn whispered.

Leon rolled his eyes and dropped his fork. Luke immediately gave him a glare, "What? Aren't you going to eat it? You said we weren't allowed to order pizza because our tab is full."

"Well, aren't you going to eat yours?" Leon retorted, gesturing to Luke's untouched plate.

Luke paused and looked at the meal. He wasn't even sure what he had thrown into the pan. He cleared his throat and pushed the dish away, "Well, I'm not hungry."

Once again, the two were at each other's throats. Stahn turned to Veigue in sheer boredom. Veigue calmly took his fork, calmly picked up a piece, and calmly placed it in his mouth. Seconds after he did so, he stood up.

"I'm full." With that, he walked into his room.

Stahn slumped on the table, "So the taste is too much for Veigue too…" He whispered to himself.

While Leon scolded Luke for his terrible cooking, the truth was that neither of them could cook. No one in the apartment could cook at all. While Leon was aware of what he put in the pan and how much he should put in, he always let the pan off the oven either too early or too late. Stahn and his experimenting were banned from even entering the kitchen area. And Veigue just picks one ingredient randomly, puts it on the pan, and fries it until there's a smell.

Bottom line: None of them could cook at all.

Stahn sighed loudly, "I wish Raine was here! Do you remember what she cooked us last time?" Drool formed in his mouth when he thought about the chili she had made them.

A doorbell rung through the air but the two continued to argue. Veigue was, once again, inside his room so it was up to Stahn to answer the door. Pulling the door open, he was surprised to see Philia standing before him.

"Huh? Philia?"

Philia laughed shyly, "Yep. Jade told me about the whole freelancing thing you have. I was wondering if you all could help me."

"Yeah…we're currently having a crisis between 'mommy' and 'daddy' so can you come back later?" Stahn replied calmly.

"I'll pay you." Philia replied again with a smile.

Immediately, Stahn pulled the three out, "Alright."

* * *

It was a short walk over to Philia's house. She lived rather close to them.

As soon as Luke laid eyes on her house, a laugh came from him, "Now this is what I'm talking about!"

They were utterly blown away by the fancy decorated house. There were fancy dressings above the windows and fancy carving in the door and window frames.

"I didn't know you were rich." Stahn gasped as he examined the house.

Philia giggled and opened the door, "I was a highly sponsored scientist before."

They were even more amazed when they walked through the doors. Every room in the house was elegantly furnished with top-of-the-line furniture.

"Make yourselves at home," Philia greeted with a smile.

Luke took off his shoes and wandered around, "This place is loaded! She's loaded! Stahn, we could be eating fancy meals everyday!"

"No," Leon snapped at Luke, "We're not using her money. It belongs to her. It'll only be fair if we work for it."

Luke shrugged and gave him an arrogant pose, "Always so high in morals, that's why you're screwed for life." With a snort, he wandered into the kitchen where Philia had gone.

Veigue followed closely after, "So, what are we hired for?"

"Well, you see, Jade assigned me to a really big project! But, you see, I have friends coming over for an early Christmas dinner today."

Stahn pondered a bit, "You'd like us to work on your project?"

Philia laughed, "Stahn, you kidder."

Leon rolled his eyes aware that Stahn wasn't kidding.

"I'd like you to help me prepare dinner. I have a list of meals for you on the fridge. All the necessary ingredients should be in this kitchen too. Can you manage it?"

This offer for them was preposterous. They couldn't cook at all! Obviously they all were ready to turn it down.

"I know you're in a huge pinch with your landlady so…if you help me cook this meal, I pay all of your owes to her!"

"We're in." The four muttered in unison.

* * *

A short chapter, yes, but I promise to update soon! 


	6. Wok with Philia Part 2

Not a very "deep" ending to this arc. I promise the next one will actually have a stronger plot. Not much else to say here.

* * *

The four of them stood there looking confident as Philia gave them a nod. As soon as she left, all four of them fell into disarray. 

"We can't cook!" Luke shouted, "What'll happen when all her guests get stomach cancer?"

"But we needed the money," Leon replied, "We all know that! Natalia is getting tired of waiting. We'll be kicked out soon!"

While the two once again went into disagreement, Stahn rushed around and panicked like crazy, "What are we going to do?"

During the screams and shouts of desperation, Veigue simply stood by a counter and chopped up carrots. The other three soon settled down and turned to the list.

"Alright, a seasoned turkey, stuffing is already inside." Stahn read out from the list, "A raw vegetable salad with Italian dressing. In brackets, it says 'chilled'. Seasoned long grain rice can be found in the cupboard, just boil it. A dish of mashed potatoes, keep the skins on because Rutee likes potatoes like that. A meat pie…"

Leon's head perked up, "What? Say that last one again."

"A meat pie,"

"No, no, say that one before!"

"That one before,"

"Stahn!"

"I'm just doing what you said!" He replied in a whiny voice.

Leon sighed and opened the fridge, "Just…never mind," From the fridge, Leon pulled out a large stuffed turkey, "Damn, how do you cook a turkey?"

Stahn snapped his fingers and took the turkey from Leon, "I remember watching this on TV! Don't worry Leon! I'll handle it."

Reluctantly, Leon let go of the turkey. He hoped deep in his heart that Stahn wouldn't poison Philia and her guests. He then turned to the bowl of potatoes in the corner, "I'll start on the mashed potatoes." How hard could it be?

"Servants can do this, why can't I?" Luke exclaimed proudly, "I'm Luke Fon Fabre!"

Leon scoffed and placed the potatoes in a steamer, "Good for you."

Luke shot him a glare and then turned to the meat that was left out to defrost, "Alright, meat pie…"

Taking a spoon, Stahn repeatedly poured the turkey sauce over the turkey. Recalling from the cooking show he watched, he took several herbs and rubbed them onto the turkey. Taking a few assorted vegetables from the counter, he chopped them up and let them sit in the sauce. He grabbed the pan, bent down, and placed the turkey into the oven. He then paused for a second and turned to Leon.

"Hey Leon, can I use the oven?"

Leon growled and walked over to him, "Obviously not…" He knelt down and began setting the oven.

While Leon set the oven, a loud, whirring sound of a blender cut through the air. Soon after that, the loud sound of thick liquid splattering everywhere filled the air.

Leon turned around in horror to see Luke standing by a blender half-filled with liquidized meat, "Luke! What is that?"

"It's for the meat pie." Luke replied calmly, "I couldn't stick all the meat in so I decided to blend it."

"You're supposed to chop it up!" Leon shouted, "Anyway, clean up this mess!"

Luke shrugged and poured the liquidized meat into a pie pan, "I'll do it later." He reached into the cupboard and took out a can of cheese spray. Shrugging, he sprayed the cheese over the meat and shoved it into the oven with the turkey.

It would only get worse if he didn't clean it up so Leon bent down and began wiping up all the meat.

"Uh, Leon," Stahn whimpered.

"What?"

"How do steamers work?"

"Stahn, I don't have the time to explain that."

"Because, the steamer…"

He was interrupted by the boiler exploding. Leon looked up to see meat juice leaking into the frayed circuits. Leon looked up and screamed, "The steamer!"

Whistling, and utterly ignorant to what happened, Luke picked up the list and began reading the next meal, "Let's see…a quiche; don't know what that is…an assorted stew with meat and vegetables; nah…a-AH!" Slipping on the meat juice on the ground, Luke fell on his back and dropped the list into a puddle of water formed when the steamer exploded.

Leon immediately grabbed the list. He felt his heart jump when he noticed that all the words had been washed away by the water, "What…what do we do!"

"W-we'll just throw everything in a pot!" Luke replied.

"That won't work!" Leon retorted.

Amongst, the arguing, Veigue calmly reached into the exploded steamer and pulled out a few potatoes.

"Don't panic!" Stahn shouted loudly, "I'll just go ask Philia!"

A doorbell rang through the air and shortly after that, the three screamed.

Philia came down the stairs, "Oh good! They're here!" She ran to the door and opened it, greeting the people as they came in, "Hello everyone!"

Leon stepped out, ready to ask Philia what else was on the list. He was interrupted by a girl tackling him to the ground, "What the…!"

"Brother!" Rutee shouted as she continued strangle-hugging him, "I haven't seen you in so long!

"Whoa! Leon! I didn't know you had a sister!" Stahn exclaimed. Sticking out his hand for a handshake, he gave Rutee a large toothy grin, "I'm Stahn!"

Rutee giggled and stood up, "I'm Rutee! Nice to meet you!"

Stahn laughed shyly and rubbed the back of his head, "Heh…want to talk?"

Leon immediately gave a tap to Stahn's shoulder, "Stahn, don't forget! We still have to cook the meal! There's no time to be drooling over my sister."

"Philia!" A shrill, female voice shouted as a pink-haired woman stepped in.

Rutee and Stahn were caught in dead silence. They both rushed over to this woman, eyes sparkling, "You're Harold Belserius! You're the inventor of Swordians!"

"I've heard all about you! I have a Swordian too!" Stahn lifted his sword, "This is…cool!"

Leon once again smacked his palm to his forehead. If Stahn was too occupied to work, he'd have to rely on the other two, "Hey Luke,"

"Luke!" Genius shouted as he ran through the door.

Luke absentmindedly turned to him, "Huh?" His eyes then turned to Raine who just walked through, "Raine!"

Now it was just Leon and Veigue left for the work. Something was wrong here…where was Veigue?

"Hey everyone," Lloyd greeted as he walked in, "Philia, how has it been?"

"It's been great. Thanks for asking Lloyd. The others are over there." She gestured over to Zelos, Sheena, and sevearl others standing by a corner.

Leon watched as Lloyd walked over to the group. His eyes moved over to Sheena, he instantly felt a pang in his heart, "Marian..."

"Is the dinner done yet?"

Knocked out of his thoughts, Leon paused and walked to the kitchen, "We'll have it done in a-" Before he could enter the kitchen, the sliding door was shut and locked, "…hey!" He tapped on the door, "Veigue!" He was locked out. Why was he locked out?

"Is there something wrong?" Philia asked.

If he told the truth, would Philia refuse to pay them? He couldn't take the risk, "Veigue's just final-touching everything." Philia simple gave him a nod before walking off to the others. Needing to find a way in, Leon wandered into the living room. He clearly remembered there being a door connecting the living room into the kitchen.

Straying away from the crowd, he walked over to the door, twisting the knob and pushing it open, "Hey Veigue! Why'd you lock me out?"

Before his question was answered, Veigue rushed over, shoved him back out, and closed the door. Leon, losing his balance from Veigue powerful shove, fell back onto a drawer with several picture frames.

"Ow…damn it Veigue!" Leon growled as he got up, straightening all the picture frames. He stopped at several of them. He picked up a picture of Rutee and Philia posing in front of a cardboard cut-out of Johnny. He laughed and put it back on the drawer.

Thinking back, he wasn't exactly sure why he had left his sister. Suddenly, one day, he was stripped away from all his friends, his love interest Marian, and his sister. Ever since then, he lived with his father and long after that, he was put in charge of a freelance company. Somehow, living alone had made him cold and bitter to the outside world. Even the company of his sister, whom he hadn't seen in several years, seemed awkward.

His hand paused at a picture of a young blond teen. At close inspection, this child looked exactly like Stahn. How did Philia get a picture of a younger teenage Stahn if they had met in the hospital? Since they were in a hospital, Leon figured that Stahn probably suffered from some amnesia. It seemed natural for him.

His hand paused on another picture frame. This one brought great confusion to him. In the picture was, once again, the younger teenage Stahn. However, right beside him was Philia as old as she was now.

"What is this…?" He whispered as he examined the picture. It looked rather genuine. It wouldn't make sense if Philia digitally edited the picture.

His thoughts were interrupted as Veigue opened the kitchen door, "Come in, Leon."

"Alright, alright,"

He was utterly blown away as well as everyone else. The table was beautifully set with all kinds of different meals.

"Philia!" Rutee shouted, "You've really outdone yourself this time!"

Philia giggled and shook her head, "No, not me. I hired Stahn and his team to handle this. All the thanks belong to them!"

Rutee chuckled excitedly and slapped Stahn on the back, "I didn't know you could cook! That's amazing!"

"Um…I can't." He turned his head to Leon, "I didn't know you could cook."

"I can't. I didn't know Veigue could cook."

Veigue posed by the table, giving a small gracious bow, "Dinner is served."

* * *

After a while of eating and conversing, people began to scatter. First to leave was Raine and Genius.

"Thank you for letting me over. And Philia, I'm very sorry for what I've done." Raine bowed to Philia, "Thank you for letting me come over anyway."

"It's alright. You only did it so you could take care of your brother." Philia replied with a smile, "It's perfectly fine with me. Take care now!"

Genius gave a wave to Luke before he left. Raine gave Luke a nod and walked out the door.

Everyone soon began scattering, commenting on how great the meal was.

In the end, only the four freelancers and Philia remained.

"That was great! Thank you!" Philia thanked, "That meat pie was delicious, I must add." Luke cheered silently behind her, "As promised, I will contact your landlady tomorrow and give her the money"

Stahn chuckled and gave her a thumbs-up, "Thanks Philia! You're the best!"

* * *

After a small rest and clean up, the four began their walk back home. Leon was caught up in his thoughts and wonders about what that picture really was. His thoughts were disturbed by Stahn's non-stop giggling.

Leon peered over to Stahn who was giggling to himself, "Stahn, what are you giggling about?"

Stahn sighed and held up a slip of paper, "I got her number!"

Luke laughed and clap, "Ha! Who'd you get?"

"Rutee,"

"What!" Leon barked at Stahn, "Give me that paper! I'm not letting my sister date you!"

Stahn rushed ahead, "Ah!"

"Get back here! We live in the same house!" Leon shouted as he chased after him.

Luke and Veigue watched as the two chased each other. Luke then tilted his head over to Veigue, "Hey Veigue, why don't you ever cook us good food?"

Veigue merely shrugged, "You never asked."

* * *

And thats the end of this arc. Next up: "Two's a Crowd" with a random crossover pairing! 


	7. Two's a crowd Part 1

Alright! Next arc! This time, featuring a random, crossover pairing. And a pre-warning, halfway through or so, you'll start to think that "these two" will be the pairing, but, it isnt. Though I have nothing against shonen-ai, I'm actually a bit of a closet fan for it, I'm going to avoid shonen-ai for the reason that some people dont like reading it. The pairing will be more obvious as this arc goes on.

Another warning, I actually have the second chapter for this halfway done. I want to pre-warn any readers that this chapter isnt as well built as I thought it would. Hopefully, though, I'll still be able to make it flow. And, thank you for reviewing Fishy! Makes me happy to know for sure that one person is reading this. : )

* * *

For a long, long time, the freelance team never had a moment to rest. They were always strapped for cash and looking for a job. Now that Philia had helped them out, the four could just sit back and relax.

The three let themselves simmer on the couches. The fourth, of course, was in his room doing what he usually does.

Leon, haunted by memories of his past sparked by yesterday, couldn't catch a wink of sleep last night. While he watched TV with the others, he dozed off. He twitched in his sleep, whispering names and words as he did so.

"Leon!" Luke shouted as he gave him a kick to the head, "I can't hear the TV."

Leon, abruptly awoken, sat up straight and shouted, "Marian!"

Luke and Stahn paused, wondering what this strange outburst meant. A long, awkward silence took over them. Only a while after did someone break the heavily, layered ice.

"Hey…" Stahn started as he flipped through the channels on TV, "What does Veigue do in his room all the time?"

"Who cares?" Luke snapped back in reply, "If you want to check, do it yourself."

Leon chuckled, "He's probably praising Claire's existence. He is a Claire fan boy."

"Do you think he has a closet shrine built?"

"I bet he has his own doll too!"

As if on cue, Veigue stepped out from his room. The three were caught off guard and nearly leapt off the ground. Veigue have them a nod and headed to the door, "Claire is having a concert in city tonight. I'll be home pretty late."

"Yeah, yeah," Luke replied.

"Oh! I almost forgot!" Stahn immediately rushed over to the crate in the corner and pulled out some clothes, "You know if we ever move into a new apartment, can we have one with two rooms or so?"

The apartment they lived in had only one room with one bathroom and a kitchen and living room set. Veigue and Leon shared the separate room while Stahn and Luke slept on the couches outside. Of course, Luke and Leon often switched since Luke constantly complained about how uncomfortable the couches were.

The phone once again began to ring. Luke dropped his hand onto the phone and picked it up, "Hello! Freelancing company, how may we help you?"

"That's Magnus freelancing corporation!" Leon hissed in a whisper.

Luke hushed Leon and held the phone closer to his ear, "Yeah…yeah…" His head tilted over to Leon, "We have a job request."

"Is our luck getting better?" Leon swung his legs over the seat and stood up, "Stahn, Luke, let's get going."

"Uh…sorry Leon, but, not this time!" Stahn replied in a cheery voice, "You see…uh…I have a date today. I have a really important date today."

"What?" Leon replied impatiently, "With whom?"

Stahn dumbly paused, "Your sister?"

Leon once against smacked his palm against his forehead, "Fine, fine, fine, but you don't get to use any of the money we make."

Stahn bowed to Leon and rushed out, "Thanks!"

"Alright, Luke, Veigue, let's go!" Leon was followed by silence, "Veigue?" His mind caught up with him as he remembered Veigue had left for a concert. In horror, he turned to Luke.

Luke gave him a look of horror as well, "Augh! I'm stuck with you!"

* * *

Regardless of their disdain for one another, the two began their walk over to their job.

"We finally get a job and I'm stuck with you! How annoying!" Luke complained once more.

"You didn't have to come along if you didn't want to." Leon retorted.

"And let you get all the money? No way!" Luke snapped back, "Why did it have to be you? Anyone would've been better!"

Leon folded his arms; he was feeling quite spiteful today just by hanging around Luke, "Like anyone could possibly stand you! Veigue probably gets a headache just by listening to you constantly bickering. Not to mention the face Philia makes when you appear."

"Well, you all suck then, except for Raine."

Leon snorted and looked to him, "Except Raine? You fancy her?"

"Of course not," Luke barked back, "She's too old and plus," He gestured his hands around his chest, "She's got almost nothing!"

Leon sighed heavily, "You have no shame."

"Well, what about you and Marian?" Luke asked, "You were mumbling her name while you were sleeping and when you woke up, you screamed it."

Leon scoffed, "That's not of your concern." He paused as they entered a district that smelt of alcohol and trash, "Wait a second…this place is a red light district!"

Luke looked around, "Huh? What does that mean?"

Leon sighed at Luke's ignorance, "It's a district marked for prostitution services." He noticed Luke's perverted smirk instantly, "Did you get the right address?"

"Yeah, I did. The Altamira hotel, in the Altamira region,"

"Altamira's a big place…" Leon took out a map from his pocket. Always prepared for any situation, he was, "Let's see…" He looked up, "Looks like you're right for once."

"Yeah...hey! For once?"

The two began wandering around this red-light district, looking for the Altamira hotel. While at first the streets were rather empty, the further they walked in, the more people there were.

Luke walked a little closer to Leon, "Hey, Leon, this place is starting to creep me out. These women all look like they're high."

Leon shrugged, "Just shut up, stay close, and we'll get to our job. What did the requester want?"

"He said a search and recover mission. He didn't give me any other details."

After a long, tedious walk, they finally reached the hotel. It was large, glass-plated, and overall fancy. As the two walked in, they were swarmed by several scantily clad women, asking them what they wanted.

"Hello! Welcome to the Altamira hotel!" The woman in front of them paused, "Hey wait…you're just kids."

"What are they doing here?"

"Send them away; they'll give us bad publicity."

"Uh, we have a job request here!" Luke explained to them, "And I'm not a kid! I'm seventeen!"

"Whatever, just go already! Shoo!"

"Ladies, ladies," A loud, masculine voice shouted. Zelos walked down the fancily decorated staircase, "Please, these are my guests!"

The women smiled and stepped back, "Master Zelos!"

Luke folded his arms and titled over to Leon, "Didn't we see this guy at Philia's dinner party?"

Zelos turned to the two, approaching them with an eccentric accent to his walk, "Only two of you? Where are the others?"

"They have plans." Leon replied calmly, "What job do you want from us?"

Zelos chuckled, "I take it you're the leader? Of course, I shall explain you this job thoroughly. Please, come with me to my office. I do not want other people hearing our conversation."

Dumbly, the two followed Zelos up the stairs and into another room.

"You see," Zelos started as he sat down on his leather chair, "I'm the owner of this hotel. As you can also see, it obviously isn't a place that's approved by many people. That's why I wanted to keep police and other official businesses out of this. Also, this matter is not one that should be dealt with by police. Philia told me about your freelance team so I decided to ask for your help."

Leon nodded in acknowledgement, "Get to the point."

"Alright, alright, you saw me at the dinner party right? Did you also see the girl next to me? Black hair tied up…"

Luke leaned back and nodded with a smirk, "Huge melons?"

"Yeah," Zelos added with a chuckle, "I like you already! Anyway, that's Sheena; my precious honey. You see…" His expression darkened, "She snuck into a mansion not far from here. Supposedly, they had some strange science experiment that Sheena was against. She went into there to steal it but she never came back. I also lost communication with her on the way."

Luke nodded, "I see…and you want us to get her back?"

Zelos nodded back, "Yeah. But, be warned. The person you are going up against is Barbatos."

"Huh? Who?" Luke replied.

"Barbatos, the weapon lord," Leon muttered, "He was responsible for manufacturing the hundreds of weapons used for war that we see today. They say he's constantly making new things. He's extremely feared."

"For a good reason too, he is his own strongest weapon. He's gone through plenty of scientific enhancement surgery to make himself nearly invincible. He's also manufacturing something big. Sheena heard about it and went in to steal it. She never told me what it was."

Leon stood up, "Alright, we'll go in. "

"I'll be paying you when you come back."

Luke chuckled, stood up, and stretched, "A real big job this time!"

* * *

In case you hadn't read the top, the pairing will not be Luke x Leon. Though my friend has told me they both have some personality likeliness, it wont be that pairing. Please review!


	8. Two's a crowd Part 2

After a hella long hiatus, I've finally returned with a chapter! I previously wrote a chapter for this arc but I realized that...well...it didnt make sense for Leon to act irrational so I erased that and wrote a new and hopefully better chapter.

I might have a mix of stories next. Like, the next chapter might be about Veigue at the concert and then the one after that will be back to "Two's a crowd". I might do it like that, then again, I might not if I find it too complicated to keep on track. Anyway, please enjoy this chapter!

* * *

Nighttime had already shrouded the shady city in darkness. The two ran swiftly to the mansion, not wanting to waste any time on their mission.

"How about 'L'?" Luke remarked as they ran, "Your name starts with L and my name starts with L. That'll be a good team name."

Leon rolled his eyes, "God, you sound like Stahn right now."

"Well excuse me, asshole." Luke grumbled under his breath.

"Quiet!" Leon whispered as he sidled against a wall, "We're here…"

The mansion itself was nothing special. It was surrounded by a large, smooth wall that seemed impossible to climb. Right at the front was a black gate which seemed like the only way to get into the mansion.

"Alright, let's climb the gate and get across!" Luke proceeded towards the gate, only to be halted by a stray leaf falling from a nearby tree.

The leaf floated gently in the air but once it came in contact with the gate, it was fried into dust. Luke and Leon immediately stepped away from the gate.

"If Sheena got in…" Leon whispered to himself, "We must be able to get in."

"Shut up!" Luke shouted in a half whisper as he shoved himself and Leon behind a tree.

Two burly, armor-clad men stepped out from the gates and dropped a crate onto the ground. Luke and Leon immediately shuddered as they stared at the box, aware of what was probably inside.

"Geez, another team of amateurs getting poisoned,"

"What a mess! Come on, we better call new scientists for Barbatos."

With that, the two men walked back into the mansion and the two freelancers stepped out from the shadows.

"Perfect…" Leon murmured as he walked over to the crate, "Uh…Luke, open it up."

Luke scoffed, "Like hell! You open up the crate of dead bodies!"

"If you're going to be a chicken about it, I'll open it…"

"I'm not a chicken!" Luke drew his sword and stabbed it into the cover of the box, "I'll show you…"

Leon chuckled, happy that Luke was still immature enough to fall for reverse psychology. The cover of the crate was opened revealing bodies covered in dark patches. The two cringed as they removed the clothes off the scientists and pulled them on.

"Oh god, this is gross." Luke shuddered as he pulled the lab coat over his regular clothes. He turned to Leon who had put on the complete attire, "How could you wear clothes that touched a dead body?"

"Our job has to be thorough, getting caught can mean death." Leon snapped back, "Now, come on." Grabbing onto the front of Luke's shirt, he pulled him towards the gate.

Before they could settle down, a computerized voice cut through the silence, "Please state your reason of being here,"

"Uh…we're replacement scientists!" Leon shouted in reply. There was a pause. He prayed to every god he knew that they hadn't been found out.

The gates swung open slowly. The two armor clad men came out again and led them into the mansion. The two were overwhelmed by the high class world they had just stepped into. The railings were made of what appeared to be gold with crystals embedded into the sides. There were several flights of stairs leading to different directions but every staircase had a long red carpet flowing down. The floor was made of a shiny, grayish material they couldn't recognize but it sure was flashy.

"Please, follow us. We shall bring you to Barbatos so he can analyze your strengths." One of the two armor clad guards walked down the staircase, signaling the two freelancers to follow.

Once the guard was far enough, Luke bent down to Leon, "Our strengths? What do we say?" He whispered.

Leon growled in his throat and wondered, "Just…just…think of that time Jade brought us into his lab."

"Leon!" A shrill voice shouted. Leon whipped around in a panic. Who just called his name?

"Oh…Keel." Leon muttered as the man with a ponytail approached him, "Why are you here?"

"I should be asking that question." Keel replied, "I'm a sub-head for the work here. Did he hire you too?" He pondered for a second, "You did say you were a stem cell specialist, right?" Leon nodded dumbly, not actually remembering what he had said, "That makes sense. Come on, I'll bring you to Barbatos."

The two freelancers followed the man to a pair of wide, wooden, highly decorated doors. With a shove, Keel pushed both doors open, "Sir!"

As if their senses needed time to take in this strength, all the saw first was a large silhouette of a tall man. As the man approached, features began appearing in this silhouette, each of them radiating strength and power. Once the full image had been finished, Leon felt as if he'd fall to his knees.

"Good evening," The man known as Barbatos greeted, "You two are efficient, appearing shortly after several other scientists left." He placed emphasis on the word 'left', "Now, what are you specialties?"

"They're stem cell specialists, sir." Keel replied calmly, "I'll be glad to take them under my wing. I lost a few a while ago."

Barbatos nodded, "Good, I'll leave you to settle this on your own then. But first, where are my manners? My name is Barbatos."

"I'm Leon." Leon replied, avoiding his last name in case Barbatos knew of his father.

"Luke," Luke added calmly. There was a moment of awkward silence as Barbatos stared at Luke intensely, "Um, is there something on my face?"

Barbatos chuckled. It wasn't a pleasant chuckle and it almost scared the two witless, "It is nothing. Please, Keel shall lead you to the labs. After the work, you may occupy any guest room you like in the basement."

The two freelancers gave a small bow and followed Keel out. The three were enveloped in silence as if the presence of Barbatos had drained their voices. Their long awkward silence was ended when Keel turned to the two.

"That guy…scares me like crazy."

Luke nodded, "Damn straight."

"Anyway," Keel added as he walked towards an elevator, "Since you two are good with stem cells, you'll probably be taking care of the human subjects." The three stepped into the elevator and watched as the heavy metal doors closed.

The two were caught in dead silence, "Human?"

Keel nodded, "Souls of living beings are needed to create powerful artificial summon spirits. Animals are usually used but Barbatos believes that human souls will work much better since they can understand us. We must first mutate the body and soul into what we want by fusing it with magic. Then we extract the soul from the body and work on keeping that form."

Leon nodded slowly in acknowledgement, "I see."

"Hey wait, what'll you tell Jade when he hears you working here?" Luke wondered. Jade was a decent man. He had morals. He wouldn't do something like this.

However, Keel's answer utterly changed his opinion on Jade.

"The science organization, if you would like to call it that, is sponsored by Barbatos and several other wealthy people. Jade supports the work we do here." There was a soft chime as the elevator halted, "We're here."

* * *

Cliffhanger! Next chapter'll hopefully be up sooner. Please Review! 


	9. Two's a crowd part 3

Flooded with so much work...I'll try to update sooner during the March Break. Its a slightly confusing chapter but I hope to tie it all up together near the end.

* * *

To no surprise, the lab was practically a mirror image to the lab at the hospital only a little smaller. The three marched quietly against the hard metal floors. 

"So, Keel, any idea on what we're dealing with?" Leon asked casually.

"You'll probably be altering the subjects both surgically and through stem cell injection. Don't worry; it won't be hard as long as you follow the guidelines your superiors give you."

Leon nodded with a false smile, "Great." He turned to Luke, "Right?" He was almost scared at the sight of Luke.

Luke's face was distorted in mixed emotions. He didn't seem quite angry nor did he seem sad. He turned to Leon and his face slackened, "Oh, yes?"

Leon noted to himself that he should talk with Luke after everything dies down. Quietly and uniformly, the two were instructed to merely observe what to do here so they were familiar with the equipment when they started.

"And, after the cells are in the right spot, fuse it together with this." The scientists before them pulled a switch. They watched as the unconscious human before them was mutated beyond recognition just by the attachment of another layer of stem cells.

Leon nodded in false excitement. Deep down, he was utterly disgusted by this. Somehow, the odd silence coming from Luke instead of the usual complaining was confusing him greatly. This strange solemn form of Luke seemed strange.

"Ah, looks like its time to rest." Keel announced as he approached the two, "I'll lead you to your rooms."

They followed the crowd of scientists like water flushing down a drain. The rooms they were given were extremely luxurious with everything they needed and more. A fresh meal on a silver platter was placed on the desk next to the door. Leon immediately took this meal and followed Luke to his room. As much as he hated working with Luke, if Luke was distressed, it could risk the job and their lives.

"Huh? Leon?" Keel muttered from behind, "Are you going to eat with Luke?"

"Yeah, he seemed unnerved working in this environment. I'm going to check on him."

"Ah, you two seem like good friends. I wish I had close friends."

Leon nodded sheepishly, "Yeah…close friends…" He cleared his throat, "What are you doing out?"

Keel held up a velvet covered book, "I went to get something to read from the library. Anyway, I'll let you get to your dinner. I'll see you later."

With a wave, the two parted ways. Leon knocked on Luke's door and entered slowly.

"We can't let your emotions get in the way of our job." Leon hissed in a tone that was caught between care and spite, "What's wrong?"

Luke sat on the bed staring at his hands, "I never thought Jade would support something like this. I didn't think he'd support such crap like this! I trusted him. Jade and Van are the two closest people to me. I can't believe he would do something like this."

Leon rolled his eyes and placed his dinner onto the drawer by the door, "This is not the time. We have a job to do, people to rescue."

With a sigh, Luke stood up, "Alright, alright."

As soon as the halls were darkened, the two wandered silently to the lab.

Leon tapped on the glass that separated the control room from the subjects. He then opened the hatch in the wall that was labeled in black marker: DO NOT ENTER.

"Luke," Leon whispered, "Stay out here and keep watch. The instant something is wrong…" He pointed to the power switch by the window, "Pull that and all the lights will come on."

Luke gave him a lazy nod, "Right, right." With a kick, he shoved Leon into the hatch and closed it off.

* * *

With a glare, Leon walked into the darkness of where they kept the subjects. It was an eerie darkness with only weak white lights lined on the corners of the wall. He saw silhouettes of beds and people. None of them moved at all. He inspected each subject carefully; none of them resembled Sheena at all. 

He concluded that she must've had surgery performed on her already. He only wished that he wasn't too late. Cautiously, he entered the next room.

The next room he entered was pitch black. Concluding that it would be impossible to see, he groped around the darkness for a light switch. In a sudden sweep, an arm with claws came out and tore the flesh from his arm. Leon screamed in pain and leapt back.

A pair of bright, red eyes glared at him from the front. The dim light coming from this strange creature's eyes revealed a pair of sinister looking claws coated in fresh, warm, blood.

Leon sighed as he saw the iron bars blocking this creature from attacking him.

However, his peace was short-lived. The strange creature gave off a menacing howl. Other glowing eyes pierced through the darkness and began howling. The iron bars rattled like mad.

Leon gasped and ran for the door. The sound of metal crunching filled his ears as the creatures broke free from their prisons and rushed at him. Leon drew his sword quickly, hoping that some god was blessing him. He'd need all he had in order to save himself.

* * *

The faint sound of howling and crunching came through the glass. Though it was faint, Luke heard it and stood up in a panic. Sweat rolled down his cheek. He reached down to the hatch and pulled it open. 

"I wouldn't do that." A booming, commanding voice muttered from behind him.

Luke placed the hatch back on and turned to the shadow of a man, "I'm worried. I heard strange noises."

"You have good hearing." The man walked into Luke's view. Luke's heart jumped as he saw Barbatos standing before him, "Someone must've broken into the containment sector. While the level one experiment are fine, once you enter the level two experiment chamber, those beings will take a whiff of your blood and break from their prisons. We had this happen before and that body was never seen again. It took days to repair the prisons and plenty of tranquilizer."

Luke nodded casually, hoping to keep the mood between the two casual, "So, how many people break in here regularly?"

Barbatos gave his unpleasant laugh once again, "It's only happened once. That outsider was trying to free the subjects but ended up getting devoured by them."

Luke's eyes widened in realization, "Sheena…"

"Excuse me?"

"Oh, it's nothing," Luke turned back to the glass to avoid looking at this man's eyes.

"Well, that might not be true." Barbatos added, "Close contact with level two subjects can cause contamination."

"So, you'll become a subject as well?"

"Depending on what the level two subjects are, it's a possibility." Barbatos cleared his throat loudly and turned, "Anyway, I'd like to see you in my office. Please follow me."

Luke was frozen for a second. Had they been found out? Shaking off his fear, he followed the man to his office.

* * *

Panting in exhaustion, Leon rested against the wall with his back while his sword continued swinging away at the shadows before him. He wasn't actually sure where the attackers were. It was far too dark to tell so he merely swung blindly and waited for his blade to connect. He wasn't sure how many he had struck down but he was sure that they had struck him far too many times. 

Beginning to feel the effects of excessive blood loss, Leon felt to his knees. He felt the warmth of another being before him and bloodlust radiating off this creature. Panting, he closed his eyes and began recalling his past memories, wanting to die with those in his mind rather than the thought of being torn to pieces by monsters.

His mind first settled on the memory of his sister and then to his friends. After that, his mind shifted over to Marian, the person he had loved when he was younger. For some reason, his mind couldn't concentrate on Marian; instead, it faded into someone else.

"Sheena…" Leon whispered with the image of the black haired woman faded from his sight.

The being before him hovered slowly above him. The being merely stared at Leon through the darkness. A humanly gasp came from the being as it dropped to its knees. The being lifted Leon from the ground and ran off further into the darkness.

* * *

Yeah, if you havent quite figured out the pairing yet, you'll figure it out next chapter! I'll start on it today.

I'd also like to take this opportunity to advertise my friend's "animated series". Its called "Tales of Ocean" and its made in RPGmaker. Search Tales of Ocean up on youtube and you should find it. His username is SeraphimSwordmaster or something like that. Please check it out!


	10. Two's a crowd part 4

Warning: Crossover pairing is very obivious now!

Not much to say here without spoiling what'll happen later on. Already planned my next two arcs. The first one will star Veigue and look deeper in his story. The next one will be "Phoenix Wright" court room styled. Over the past week, I've been obsessed with Phoenix Wright. I've been dying to write that arc.

* * *

"-on…" A faint scream in the distance echoed.

"-eon…" A louder scream in the distance came again.

"Ugh…" Leon thought, "What is that…"

"Leon!" A loud scream rang at his ears.

Leon rolled off the bed and landed painfully on his back, "Ow! Rutee! What was that for?"

The tall, black haired girl before him chuckled, "Is that the thanks I get for waking you up? You have a visitor!" She bent down to Leon with a large smirk, "It's a girl! And she has black hair!"

Hearing this, Leon jumped to his feet and ran into the bathroom to clean himself up.

Rutee chuckled and a shrill voice, "Love struck! My friend is also here so please don't scare her!"

Leon gave Rutee a playful glare before running out of his room. He ran through the corridor, accidentally bumping into a wandering Philia, "Sorry!" He shouted back as he continued running.

The now dizzy Philia swayed in the air, "Ah, it's alright!" She shouted to the air.

Leon slid down the banister and into the living room. Seeing no one there, his posture slackened, "I knew it. She tricked me."

"Leon," A gentle female voice whispered as she tapped his shoulder.

With a happy sigh, Leon turned to face her, "Hello, Marian. How are you?"

The girl giggled and gave him a smile of pure innocence, "I'm great! Leon, do you remember what tomorrow is?"

"How could I forget?" He replied casually, "It's your birthday. I even got you a present!"

Marian giggled again and clapped childishly, "You know, all I want is time spent with you!"

Leon blushed slightly and smiled, "I thought this was your birthday, not mine. Time spent with you would make me the happiest."

A loud laughter came from the hallway. The two turned to see Rutee leaning against the doorframe with a large grin on her face, "I've never heard you say things like that Leon!"

Marian giggled again as the two feuded. It was true, however. Around Marian, Leon expressed himself. Marian was the only person that could make him smile. She was the only one that could make him laugh sincerely. She was the only one who saw the real Leon.

After Rutee left, Leon walked back to Marian with a smile. He cast away his solemn attitude and embraced the light side of himself.

"Tomorrow, we'll meet at the peach tree outside. Promise?" Marian muttered in her calm, serene voice. She held up her pinky in a gesture of trust.

It was childish. Leon would never do something like this to anyone. But, as long as it was Marian, he'd do anything for her. He was in love. They were in love. He connected his pinky to hers.

"I promise…"

Shadow began enveloping the two. Marian soon faded from his sight. Before he knew it, he was on his knees and overcome with grief.

"You may never see them again."

"Marian…it's her birthday! Please!"

"Clinging to trash is making you weak. We're leaving. Forever…"

"Ah! Marian!" Leon shouted as he sat up quickly. He was shocked by the pitch black darkness around him.

* * *

"You're awake." A weak, female voice murmured to him from the darkness.

Trying his best to assess the situation, Leon felt through the darkness with his hands. He touched a hand not much smaller than his, "Who…Marian?" He gasped and turned his head in the darkness, "Is that…Sheena? Is that you?"

There was a shift in weight. The sound of soft flesh pressing against a wall was heard, "Yeah. I saw you at the dinner. Did Zelos hire you to save me?"

"Yes, he did."

A grunt of dissatisfaction came from her.

"What?"

"Typical," There was another sound of shifting. She reached down and touched Leon's rib which caused him to hiss, "Does that still hurt?"

Leon groaned and shoved her away, "Yeah, it does."

"Alright, we can't leave yet. You'll slow us down if you're wounded."

"Hmph, what about you? You were stuck here longer."

There was a long, awkward pause, "Sheena?"

"I've been contaminated. It's alright."

"Contaminated?"

There was another long pause, "Level two experiments can contaminate others. I've already began mutating." She sighed, "I've gained a lot of strength from this. I thought I lost my mind until you called my name."

Leon chuckled and then groaned at the pain at his ribs, "I've been contaminated too."

"It's a blessing in disguise. Your wounds will heal a lot faster." Sheena looked around in the darkness. Her eyes had adapted from the contamination and allowed her to see clearly in the dark, "You chopped down a lot of experiments here. The rest are sleeping now. You did a lot better job than what I did." She turned to look at Leon, "Marian, who's Marian? You kept saying her name."

Leon sighed and stretched out on the floor, "She was my former girlfriend. My father took me away from her when I was little. I never saw her again."

"Your father is a bit of an ass, isn't he?" There was another long pause. Sheena chuckled, "It was just a joke." Leon stayed quiet, "Are you alright…?"

"It was her birthday…" He whispered, "The day he took me away…it was her birthday. I cried a day after I left. And ever since then, my father made me swear never to show such weakness…so I never did."

He blocked those memories from his mind. Or, more appropriately, his father blocked them from his mind. While they were always in the back of his head, he never looked back at them until now. Until the day he saw Sheena, the person that reminded him so much of Marian. Those memories fixed in his mind relit and plagued his thoughts. In front of the others, he couldn't cry. That would show weakness to those around him. To himself, he couldn't cry. That would show weakness to his being.

But, in the shadows where he could not see himself or see anyone around him, he began crying. Sheena paused, looking at this pathetic form. Taking pity on him, she lifted him up gently and took him in her arms.

Expecting words of nurture and comfort, Leon's instinct kicked in and waited to block out her words. It was a mechanism in his mind that was there since he was born. He wouldn't let anyone take pity on him no matter how he felt.

"Pull yourself together." Sheena hissed in a tone that wasn't quite kind but wasn't quite cruel, "So it was sad, so what? It has already happened. Cry, cry for now, a child has to cry to lessen the pain of wounds, and then get back up. No matter how much it hurt you, it is just a scar now. Even if the scar never fades, it can't do anymore."

Those words were harsh enough to penetrate his mind and kind enough to touch his heart. It was a feeling Leon hadn't felt in a long, long time. His bravado that built up over the years never let anything kind or sweet touch his heart.

"Sheena…" He whispered as he felt another long-lost sensation in his heart.

There was a short silence between the two as Leon simmered his emotions. Breaking the mood that had been forced upon himself, he looked to Sheena with a question, "Why are you here? Why do you want to steal these experiments?"

"I come from the Fujibayashi clan. Back in the past, far before anything was invented, we worshipped natural summon spirits like gods. Now, times have changed. Summons spirits can be manufactured. I'm one of the last descendants of the Fujibayashi clan. And this...this manufacturing of summon spirits...I can't stand it."

"I see..." Leon whispered, feeling the passion coming from her voice. It was a passion he rarely felt. It was a passion he'd want to feel more and more.

His peace was interrupted by searing pain erupting from his body. He screamed and fell away from Sheena, his body withering in pain.

"You've reached the next evolution…" She muttered quickly as she picked him up, "Come on. We have to leave now."

Fighting the pain that tore apart his mind, Leon nodded, "Alright…"

It didn't take long for the two to break into the level one section where it was safe. They two began their walk to the exit, following the lights on the ground. At that moment, Leon noticed the mutations that had already occurred. He looked at the scaly patches of skin on his arms and legs. On his two feet, he felt the extra weight of hard flesh forming on his back. Feeling his cheek gently, he felt more scale-like skin.

Sheena's mutation had gone even further than his. Her body no longer seemed human at all since it was covered in flesh-like plates and pieces. Her hair flared out at the back with two fleshy horns at the top. Her face still maintained a human appearance but had large veins bulging out from the sides. On her back was a pair of limp, fleshy wings that were coated in dried, black blood.

"I didn't notice…" Leon whispered as he examined Sheena closely, "…you were already mutated." He then looked at himself after.

Sheena looked to him with a melancholic expression, "It was dark. It's natural."

"…it's too late, isn't it?"

Sheena said nothing in return. They walked out of the level one section and over to the exit hatch. With little to no effort, Leon tore it open and stepped out. Staring at his hands, he swallowed, "This much change…already?"

"Yeah, but, your original body is still intact, yes?" Sheena asked. Leon pondered dumbly, not knowing what to say, "You don't understand, do you? It's alright." She brushed off the dirt on what was left of her clothes, "Once 'that' happens, you'll understand."

Collecting himself and his plan again, Leon gasped in realization. His eyes darted back and forth in panic, "Luke…where's Luke!"

* * *

Luke was supposed to have a little piece in this about his meeting with Barbatos but somehow, the whole Leon and Sheena thing just kept going. I promise the next chapter will have more Luke! 


	11. Two's a crowd part 5

The final chapter of "Two's a Crowd" featuring more Luke for everyone! But in reality, Leon still takes the spotlight in this chapter. Next Arc: "A Vague Truth"...which is a bad pun on Veigue's name. Anyway!

After reading a review from Kimmi RHK, I've decided to move this story over to the Symphonia section after I finish "A Vague truth". I want to pre-warn all readers so they know where they can find this fic after it disappears from the Tales of Destiny section.

* * *

"Hey! Leon!" Keel shouted from the shadows as he entered the room, "That is you, right?"

Leon shrunk back into the shadows, pushing Sheena down behind him to hide her, "Yeah. I heard some strange noises. And now, Luke is missing."

"Oh, I saw him with Barbatos a while ago. I saw them when I went to grab a book. I think they were going to his office."

"Really? Ah, thank you!" Leon shouted back, "You should get back to sleep now. I have…insomnia so I can't sleep well."

With a nod in the darkness, Keel gave him a wave and walked away.

Sheena swallowed and stood up, "What would've happened if he saw us…"

"I don't know." Leon replied, "We have to find Luke!"

* * *

The two walked in the darkness of the halls with only small lamps lighting the way. The lights themselves were far too dim to allow either of them to gauge each others' expression. Luke walked a step behind Barbatos. Even someone as ignorant as him feared the energy radiating off of this powerful man.

"Tell me, Luke, what is your last name?" Barbatos boomed. Was it just small talk? He couldn't tell.

"It's Lungberg." Luke replied, quickly pulling out Veigue's last name. Whatever reason Barbatos had for asking, it couldn't have been good. He chose to protect his last name in case it revealed something.

Barbatos chuckled, "Lungberg…right? Is there any relation to Veigue Lungberg and Woodrow Lungberg by any chance?"

Luke froze on the spot. His feet moved mechanically to keep up with Barbatos, "N-none at all!"

"Thought so," Barbatos replied, "The Lungberg family line that Veigue and Woodrow belong to are famous for their silvery hair. They're all great achievers in this world. Did you know that?"

Luke shook his head in truth, "I did not." Was Barbatos lying to him? The quiet, docile, Claire-obsessed Veigue of the freelancing company was part of a line of great achievers? He couldn't believe this. Thinking over it again, he never asked Veigue anything about his past. Veigue just happened to be in the freelancing corporation when he joined.

"Ever heard of Asch?" Barbatos asked once more, "He was a great scientist with knowledge that could revolutionize the world." Taking out his key, he unlocked the office door and pushed it open, "You first." Luke walked into the office dumbly, "Asch was partners with several powerful men. I was one of them. We invested in his knowledge."

"Uh-huh…" Luke replied.

"However, misfortune always meets the gifted." Barbatos stepped in front of Luke and stared at him intensely, "Asch was killed in a car crash. Poor man, he had so much potential."

"Why are you telling me this?"

Barbatos chuckled unpleasantly. Luke shuddered at the sound of his laugh, "Arrogant and impatient. Just like Asch,"

"What's going on?" Luke replied. His body shook without him noticing.

"Ever heard of the Fon Fabre line? You should…Luke Fon Fabre." Barbatos laughed again. This time, his laugh was menacing and purely evil, "The long red hair. The purely arrogant expression…Did you really think it could fool me for a second?"

Luke grabbed the hilt of his sword in fear, "What the hell are you talking about?"

"You mean you don't know? Didn't Van tell you? Didn't Jade tell you?"

"How do you know those two?" Luke drew his sword, "Tell me!"

Barbatos laughed again. He slowed down to a soft chuckle, "Scientists don't bother telling vessels. They're afraid they'll commit suicide and all their knowledge will be lost. Luke Fon Fabre…Do you know what you are?" Placing his hands behind him calmly, he tilted his head downward to look at Luke, "It would be a shame to lose such knowledge. If you truly are the vessel, you should be able to figure it out."

Luke swallowed and stepped back, slowly approaching the door.

"Where do you think you're going?" Barbatos hissed, "Do you know how much you are worth? Do you know how much they'll pay for your safe return?" Barbatos reached over to Luke and gripped his arm tightly, almost crushing it, "Van cares for his precious vessel. He cares for his precious knowledge!"

Luke wrenched his arm away, "What? So now I'm a bargaining chip? No thanks!" Luke hissed as he slashed at Barbatos with his sword. He was caught off guard when Barbatos grabbed his sword with his bare hand, "What the…"

"Asch, you don't have a choice." In one swift movement, the blade of his sword snapped and Luke was sent flying into a bookcase.

With a gasp, Luke collapsed to the ground gripping the hilt of his broken sword, "Ugh…"

"You are a mere vessel. You are nothing more. I am Barbatos, the strongest man alive. Did you really think you could take me down?"

Struggling to look up, Luke coughed out a bit of blood and stared at the man's feet, "Sh-shut up!"

"Luke!" Leon shouted as he pushed through the door off the office. He was shocked to see Luke on the ground withering in pain before Barbatos.

"What the hell…" Luke muttered as he looked at Leon and Sheena, "Contamination…"

Barbatos blinked and faced the two, "Contaminated subjects…interesting. You still hold human will?" Another chuckle, "Not for long…"

Bolting off the floor, Leon used his new mutated speed to reach Luke. However, before he could reach him, a large shadow blocked him and knocked him to the ground. The air in Leon's lungs was knocked straight out as he fell to the ground.

"Damn…" Leon hissed as he got on his elbows, "Barbatos…you're not human…"

Barbatos chuckled, "Neither are you." Lifting his arm into the air, he blocked the aerial kick Sheena gave him from above. His smirk faded away as his arm shook from the struggle to block her, "What…"

Sheena swept down, twisted her body, and gave Barbatos a kick to his ribs. Barbatos blocked that with his arm, sliding to the opposite side as he did so.

"Leon, are you alright?" Sheena gasped as she lifted Leon from the ground.

Leon gasped in pain and gripped his chest. He screamed and rolled onto his stomach, "It hurts…it hurts!"

"Oy! Leon!" Luke shouted as he pushed himself off the floor and over to him. His eyes darted over to Barbatos and then back at the two. With all his might, he shoved the two of them down.

Instantly after this shove, a large beam of light shot overhead the three. Once the beam ended, all they saw was Barbatos standing before him with a dimming light in his hands.

"He really isn't human…" Sheena whispered.

"You," Luke shouted to Sheena, "What's happening to Leon?"

"His organs are morphing. Everything inside his body is altering itself. Soon, he won't be human at all. Just like me…"

Cruel applause came from Barbatos, "How interesting. Contamination can speed up the process? I did not know that at all." He was interrupted by a powerful jolt to the head by Sheena. If Barbatos was even a second late with his block, Sheena would've knocked off his head by now, "And if you purposely use the power of your mutation, you'll have more strength? Even more interesting…"

"Get Leon out of here," Sheena turned to Luke, "I'll handle Barbatos."

Before Luke could give her a nod, Leon reached out and grabbed Sheena's arm, "No…" He gasped, "Not…not again…never again…"

Luke looked down at the suffering being in his arms, "Leon, what are you talking about? Listen to what she says!"

"I won't leave her. I won't leave you." He whispered between his gasps of pain.

Sheena nodded slowly to him, stepping back so she faced Barbatos with Leon and Luke close behind her, "Alright, I'll try it." She lifted her hands, "I call upon the red giant, the ruler of hellfire!" A circle of light appeared around her, "I summon…come Efreet!"

From the light, a large being that highly resembled the devil itself rose from the flames. Barbatos didn't flinch at all. He merely stared at the summon spirit calmly. Sheena was caught by surprise.

"Efreet…he isn't usually this big…"

The large demonic figure drenched the place in flames, engulfing Barbatos in the blast. Amidst the flame, Barbatos laughed once more, "So…level two beings…beings that are close to summon spirits themselves…they can utilize the spirit's full potential? How very interesting!"

Sheena pressed the two down, shielding them from the flames. Luke watched Sheena closely. He saw the exhaustion on her face and the pain she must've been going through because of the mutation.

Before the flames could die down, Sheena collapsed. The flames moved closer towards them and licked at their bodies. Luke hunched over, shielding the two from the flames, "Damn…it…all…" The intense heat worked its way into Luke's body, killing him slowly.

He soon collapsed on the ground, his energy all gone. The flames eventually died down when Efreet disappeared. Leon continued to grunt in pain and Sheena was far too exhausted to move. Luke forced himself up with all his strength. All he saw was the silhouette of a short man by the door; he reached out to the man.

"…help…"

* * *

Awakening from a bed as if the whole ordeal was just a bad nightmare, Leon sat up from the bed he slept on. He felt his aching forehead, instantly realizing that the scales coating his hand were all gone.

"Sheena…!" He shouted as he looked around quickly.

"She's alright." Keel muttered softly, "She had gone further into the mutation but I was able to pull her back."

"Keel…?"

Luke nodded from the couch he sat on, "Yeah. He pulled you two back. He bandaged me up too."

Leon sighed in relief when he saw Sheena sleeping on the bed next to him. He fell back onto the bed and looked to Keel, "Where are we?"

"We're in the recovery ward of the lab. Experimentation can cause mental and physical damage to the scientists so Barbatos built the recovery ward for us." Keel explained as he put down his book.

"This guy saved us! He made up an excuse and saved us." Luke added, "If it wasn't for him, we would've been caught by the others and probably killed."

Keel chuckled, "Barbatos never calls anyone to his office. I was worried. And, back when I met Leon at the experimentation hall, I thought I saw scales on you."

Suspiciously, Leon glanced over to Keel, "Why are you helping us? You're a scientist that willingly submits to working on humans."

Keel paused with a smile. Tilting his head, he gave his answer, "You're my friends. It's good to have friends."

"Wait, wait, wait,"Luke cut in, "What if you lose your job? What if you get killed?"

"I'm precious to Barbatos. I'm key in the creation of summon spirits. There's no way he would kill me."

"Thank you, Keel." Leon replied, "I really mean it." Swinging his feet over the side of the bed, he stood up and wandered over to Sheena.

Luke stood up immediately and held Leon back, "You just had some crazy surgery on you! Get back to sleep!"

"We can sleep when we're home. Right now, we're still not safe." Pushing past Luke, Leon bent down and picked Sheena up from the bed, "Thank you for helping us Keel. We really mean it."

Keel nodded, "No problem. Perhaps we all can meet again outside of the lab."

* * *

After exchanging goodbyes to one another, the three departed from Barbatos's mansion. Struggling under the weight of Sheena on his back, Leon panted quickly as he walked back to the hotel.

"You know, I can carry her back." Luke suggested to Leon, "I might be covered in burns but I'm not exhausted."

"No, I'm alright." Leon replied.

"Whatever you say,"

After what seemed like an eternity's walk back to the hotel, they finally made it back. Zelos rushed over and carried Sheena over to a spare room.

"Thank you very much. I was beginning to think you had failed." Zelos muttered with a chuckle, "As your payment, I'll give you…five hundred each. How is that?"

"We're eating well tonight!" Luke cheered as he took the money from Zelos.

Leon took the money lazily, his whole body swaying as he did so.

"Heck, I'll even give you a free night at this hotel! What do you say?" Zelos offered.

Luke turned to Leon who was already asleep on the couch, "I'm not carrying that guy back. Sure! We'll stay!"

With that, Luke hopped onto another bed and closed his eyes. While he waited to sleep, he began thinking of what Barbatos had said to him. What was 'Asch' to him? What did he mean by 'vessel'? He shrugged it off and emptied out his mind. It was best not to think about something like this after such an ordeal. If there was no way for him to figure out the answer in his current state, it was best to just rest it off and figure it out later.

* * *

The next morning, Luke and Leon both got washed and began their trip back home. Luke gave a wave and smile to the bunny outfitted girls by the door.

"We should come here more often." Luke said with a slightly perverted smile on his face.

Leon said nothing and looked back at the hotel. He then saw Sheena running out from the glass doors and over to him, "Sheena?"

She had cleaned herself up and changed all her clothes. She even looked different from before, "Leon…I forgot to thank you…"

"I didn't tell you my name."

She pointed her head towards Luke, "He mentioned it a while ago. So, to both of you, thank you. Thank you for saving me. If there's anything you need help with, come to me and I'll help you."

Luke waved to her, "We got it!"

Something rare that had never happened in years, Leon smiled out of the sincerity in his heart. It wasn't a large smile; it was just the side of his lips twisting upward. He waved to Sheena coolly and turned around.

"Man, Sheena has some nice melons!" Luke commented as soon as they got far enough from the hotel. Leon rolled his eyes at his remark, "Come on, that's why you like her, right?"

Leon scoffed and folded his arms, "Oh please, give me a break."

Luke chuckled with a smirk, "Denial!"

* * *

And thats the end of this arc! As mentioned before, next arc will be starring Veigue and look into his storyline. "A Vague Truth"! To current readers, the fic will not be moving yet. Only after the next arc will it move and the next arc will probably be around two or three chapters. 


	12. A Vague Truth Part 1

In my opinion, not a very fun chapter for me. Its too...straight-forward story-like. Luckily, this ismostlya chapterfor understanding future plots.Hopefully, other chapters starring Veigue will have more action and such in it.

As I mentioned before, this story will be moving to the Symphonia side right after this arc ends. I'll be putting up warnings at the top in bold and such:

**AFTER THIS ARC ENDS, THE STORY WILL BE MOVED TO THE SYMPHONIA BOARD. **

This is all.

* * *

The glittering stage illuminated as beams of bright, piercing light shone upon it. The transparent curtains folded back as star-like lights glittered upon the audience. A woman with long, golden locks of hair came onto the stage wearing a silky, slinky dress. The train of her dress dragged along the stage throwing glitter into the air as it did so. 

The cries of fan boys filled the air as Claire walked to the middle of the stage. They cheered louder and louder as she approached them, instantly silencing when she began to speak.

Right at the very front was Veigue, staring at Claire as if she was an angel that descended from heaven to speak with the people. He didn't cheer like the others, he merely stared at her.

"Claire…" He whispered as he cast his eyes downward.

To the others, it was just fandom. But, to him, it was much more than that. He was in love with Claire right to the point he would sacrifice himself to save her. What everyone didn't know was that Claire loved him too.

Back before his life was changed forever, his life was perfect.

* * *

Before Claire became a big hit, she was merely a bar singer. Veigue worked odd jobs far before he even joined the Magnus Freelancing Corporation. This night, he was a busboy cleaning up tables.

Deep down, Veigue always had an inferiority complex to the rest of his family. His brothers had all made it into the rich life with world-changing discoveries and accomplishments. Veigue hadn't accomplished any of that. He was a mere freelancer that did the oddest jobs just to make ends meet.

He was in a slump. It was a slump he could never get out of. It wasn't like he wasn't capable or anything. He was just unmotivated and uninspired. This day, however, changed everything.

He rushed to get all the tables cleaned so he could sit down and listen to Claire sing. Her voice was like a heavenly chorus that was the one source of light for Veigue's tedious and tough life.

As soon as Claire left, Veigue began putting up stools and cleaning cups at the bar. Mary, the bar owner there, approached him with a smirk, "Have you fallen for Claire?"

With a cold tone, Veigue replied, "Yes. I have."

"Veigue, I've seen you work here for a while." Mary added, "I've never seen your eyes light up like that. Claire seems like she'll be 'good for your health'." Taking out a napkin from the drawer, she scribbled down a few bars, "Here are the bars she visits in order. There aren't anymore and she usually doesn't switch them around. If she does change and you need to find her again, come to me and I'll help you!" Mary chuckled and walked towards the door, "Seeing you light up when she sang was priceless! I'll leave you to close up, alright?" After the small exchange of goodbyes, Mary departed.

Claire traveled from bar to bar to sing every night. Veigue began following Claire around with busboy jobs. He began developing stalker like tendencies without being aware of it. It wasn't long before Claire began noticing him. On their breaks, the two would often chat about small things in the bar or the current events outside. Just these small moments made Veigue extremely happy.

The two began developing feelings for one another. He learned that Claire's family was deeply caught in political issues so she was left to fend for herself for a while. Veigue told her the truth and Claire accepted it. Claire often left before Veigue since Veigue often had to stay behind to clean up the bar.

On one dark, rainy day, Claire was walking back home. A man ambushed her. He was soaked in rain and the dim light of the streetlamp made his face appear nearly demonic. Besides Veigue, there was another man. There was another stalker that was obsessed with her. He confessed his love to her but Claire rejected it, saying she was already in love.

In a rage, the man attacked her.

It was destiny that day. A shadow came from the rain and tackled the man down. That day, Claire had forgotten her wallet back at the bar so Veigue rushed out the bar to return it to her. At that moment, Veigue saw the attacker and knocked him down, protecting Claire.

It happened suddenly and without fanfare. The two were soaked in rain and recovering from the sudden terror of the attacker. At that moment, throwing everything aside, the two held each other and kissed. In the pouring rain of night, the two shared their first kiss. Everything changed that day.

Wherever Claire sang, her bodyguard, part-time busboy, would follow. Veigue soon pulled some strings with his cousin Senel, who was a champion martial artist, and hooked Claire up with a gig to sing the anthem before the martial arts tournament.

That was when Claire's career skyrocketed. She was invited everywhere to sing and she soon became a national celebrity. Always by her side was her faithful bodyguard Veigue. No matter where she went, he always came along. If the two couldn't be there together, they wouldn't be there at all. To protect her career, Veigue couldn't outwardly say that he was dating Claire. It was some rule of stardom that Veigue willingly accepted to ensure Claire's success. Secretly, the two were always together.

The further Claire's career got, the more secretive they had to get. Veigue merely became a shadow to Claire. However, deep down, the two were happy as long as they were together. In those moments of pure privacy, which were hard to get with the paparazzi swarming you, they shared their moments together.

The further this got, the less time they could spend together. Even though the two were unhappy with it, the two separated temporarily so Claire could work on other matters. During this time, Veigue would return to Mary's bar and the two would talk.

"Are you living the big life now?" Mary chuckled as she cleaned a glass, "And to think, you used to be just a freelancer!"

Veigue chuckled and drank from his glass. His expression was still as cold as it was before but somehow, it reflected peace in himself, "People change," He placed his glass down and walked behind the counter. He picked up a wash cloth and began cleaning the glasses left over, "I'll make it up to you sometime."

Mary laughed and continued cleaning the glasses, "Hook me up with a higher wage job! That's what I want."

After putting away the clean, dry glasses, Veigue threw on his coat, "Mary…" He started.

"I know. Don't tell anyone about you and Claire. It must remain a secret to ensure success in her career. What a mouthful to say,"

Veigue nodded to her, his own gesture of gratitude. He then stepped out of the bar.

Claire's fame continued to expand and soon, she was an international celebrity. The time between her and Veigue began to dwindle. Their secrecy was so well kept that he was a mere shadow to Claire. No one knew about him as if he didn't exist. Veigue didn't mind at all. As long as Claire was happy, it was alright.

While Claire was invited to a celebrity dinner with several others, Veigue once again went back to Mary's bar to wait.

Before he got there, there were two other individuals standing by the bar each holding a drink. Woodrow and Jade sat in the far corner of the bar sipping cosmopolitans.

"We have all the technology you need. We just need subjects." Jade whispered as he took a sip of his drink, "Do you have anyone prepared? The scientists we have are all willing to try this out."

Woodrow shook his head, "No. They have importance to us. I know the perfect subject for this. He's a disgrace to the Lungberg name. He's useless."

"Your own relative…?" Jade muttered in surprise, "He's family."

"A black sheep," Woodrow replied calmly, "He tarnishes the Lungberg family name. And, because he's family, I can personally claim as his brother that he willingly submitted to this."

"Always thinking, aren't you?" Jade joked dryly, "Your choice is your choice. I provide the technology, you provide the sustenance."

Woodrow chuckled and leaned back on his chair, "I'm sure Veigue won't resist. He knows his own life is worthless. Ah, there he is."

Walking towards the bar, Veigue once again took off his coat and bought a drink.

Woodrow and Jade quickly made their exit so they wouldn't be noticed by Veigue.

"Claire's a star, thanks to you." Mary said with a chuckle.

"No, thanks to you," Veigue replied, "I owe you."

"I was just helping out a friend." Mary replied as she held out her hand for a handshake, "We are friends, right?"

Veigue shook her hand, "Naturally."

* * *

The concert soon ended and people began flushing out. Veigue stood there in the dissolving crowds staring at the empty stage. As soon as most of the people left, Veigue climbed onto the stage and snuck into the back where the stage crew and Claire rested.

Hiding behind curtains and stage lights, Veigue spied at the stage crew as they cleaned up the set. Down near the rooms was Claire, packed up, dressed in a plain coat, and ready to go. While she smiled on the outside when people congratulated her performance, deep down, Veigue could sense the unhappiness in her heart. A melancholic look was always in her eyes.

"Miss Bennett," A kind, female voice murmured, "The limo is here."

"Mm, alright," Claire replied calmly as she walked towards the door with several other bodyguards.

As the bodyguards began to flush out, a certain female bodyguard looked towards the stage lights, spotting Veigue at once. Taking off her sunglasses and pushing her reddish-orange hair out of her face, she approached the man.

"Veigue...!" Mary shouted in surprise.

* * *

Veigue stories have a more romantic, inner strugglish kinda theme to them. That's what made this less interesting to read than the other ones where jokes or action took over. In the next arc, I'll try my best to give Veigue more love. 


	13. A Vague Truth part 2

The last chapter of the "A Vague Truth" arc. Next up, "Turnabout Sages", an arc inspired from the Phoenix Wright series. 

And the usual warning here:

**This fic will be featured in the Tales of Symphonia section when the next arc starts. **

* * *

It was another dark and cold night. Ice coated the floor and thin layers of snow still covered the surroundings. Claire had a press conference to attend so Veigue once again went back to Mary's bar to wait. However, today, Mary had to cover inventory and closed the bar early. 

Walking out and back to the mansion, Veigue gave his goodbye to Mary. As he walked down the street, he instantly noticed the person before him. 

"Brother," Veigue muttered as he approached the man, "Why are you here?" 

Woodrow gave him a smile, "Is this all you do in your life? Random odd jobs and then night at a bar…?"

Remembering to keep his relationship with Claire a secret, Veigue nodded, "Yes. If you must know,"

"Such a useless life," Woodrow commented as Veigue walked past him, "Would you rather do something else?" 

Before Veigue could answer, several men came over and pinned him down. Veigue growled and fought them off. He was able to knock down three of them with just his bare hands. However, another one came behind him with a stun gun. Veigue fell to the ground in pain. 

"What…what the hell!" 

"Modifying animals isn't going to pay my bills. I need a human subject. I need a worthless human subject that I can cover up easily." Woodrow waved his hand into the air, signaling the others to pick Veigue up, "I need human subjects. It's a good thing, Veigue. If the modification is successful, you're skills will be amplified. And even if that doesn't work, you'll die." 

Luck was on Veigue's side, or so he thought. Claire's limo drove down the street and instantly saw Veigue being wrestled to the ground by several others. 

"Veigue!" She gasped as she stepped out of the limo. Several other miscellaneous bodyguards followed after her. 

Veigue looked up from the struggle, "Stay back!" He shouted as he tried his best to wrestle away from those that held him still. 

Woodrow gasped in shock. Out of anyone that came to his rescue, the famous Claire Bennett appeared. He wasn't aware that it wasn't just any coincidence. It was too late to just let Veigue go. Woodrow was aware that Claire came from a powerful family, a family more powerful than his own. If he were to let Claire leave like this, his family name would be utterly destroyed. Giving his crew another gesture, he ordered his team to capture Claire and the bodyguards. They swarmed her and the bodyguards, overpowering them immediately. 

"C-Claire!" He screamed before he was knocked unconscious.

* * *

Shortly after meeting, the two left the backstage and headed to a nearby coffee shop to talk. 

"How's life been for you?" Mary asked as she dropped a few sugar cubes into her coffee. Veigue merely stared at his tea blankly. Mary sighed as she grabbed a stir stick, "Claire, she doesn't remember. I've tried a lot of things. I told our limo driver to go around to the bars. I asked her to do some freelance singing in the bar she first met you. I'm sorry but, nothing works." 

Veigue nodded and looked at his reflection in the dark pool of tea, "How about anyone else?" 

Mary shook her head, "No one else remembers. They only remember a stray bodyguard and that's all they can say. You kept your identity and relationship as such a secret that no one knew who you were." Mary held the coffee mug to her lip, "I'm glad that I still remember." 

"You didn't witness the kidnapping." 

"Yeah," She placed her mug down and bowed her head to him, "I'm sorry about giving your location to him. I thought he was just…someone."

* * *

Snow was piling up on the city as temperatures dropped far below zero. Due to the lack of customers and difficulty of getting home, Mary decided to close up the bar early. As she put away the empty glasses and bottles, the phone began ringing. 

"This late at night…?" Mary sighed as she stretched her arms. She took the phone and placed it on her shoulder so she could continue cleaning up the bar as she talked, "Hello?" 

"Is this Mary's bar?" 

"Yeah, Mary speaking," 

"I'd like to ask, does a man with silvery hair come by often? He often works as a busboy. His name is Veigue." 

It was strange for someone to phone in asking about Veigue but she didn't find any real reason on why she shouldn't reply, "Why do you want to know?" 

"I'm his family. I want to know." 

Dumbly, Mary replied, "Yes. He comes in rather often." 

"Yes, thank you for cooperating."

* * *

"Perhaps if I didn't answer…you would still be…" Mary whispered. 

"No," Veigue replied calmly, "Woodrow would've found out one way or another." He picked up his cup of tea and chugged it down quickly, "I'm glad that someone else is taking care of Claire now. Someone I trust greatly," 

"If I could help take down Woodrow, I would." 

"It isn't possible." He placed the tea cup down, "My brother…no…my family…they're all highly successful. Woodrow alone single-handedly invented successful body mutation while keeping the mind intact. He's supported by so many…it would be impossible to take him down. And even if we did find a way, my family would support him." 

Mary nodded, "I understand. But…" She looked up, "I thought about this before. Claire…her family is extremely powerful. They handle the politics of this country and Claire herself is extremely renowned. What if I asked her?" 

"Never," Veigue replied simply, "If it is merely you trying to convince her, if Woodrow found out, you'd be killed instantly. You'd probably be erased from everyone's memory as well. And even if you weren't and Claire decided to act on her own, Woodrow would snuff her out. I swear he would." 

Mary chuckled, "Always thinking about Claire first," She looked out the window and watched the cars on the street, "Veigue, I'm curious. What did Woodrow do to you?" 

Veigue stared at his hands, "I'm not quite sure at all. He's made my reaction time faster and my ability to absorb information stronger. However, now, it's like I can't gain any new feelings. I can feel only what I used to have." Veigue paused. 

The two were engulfed in solemn silence. 

"I never believed Woodrow would do that." Mary murmured. 

"No one would volunteer for this unless they were forced to do so in a contract or something. Body enhancement and mutation…it's painful." Veigue hissed quietly, "It's painful beyond hell. Until it's been tested once, no one else wants to try it."

* * *

"Brother, your surgery is complete. It was deemed a success."

Veigue looked up from the hospital bed, his body quivering in pain. He shut his eyes again, unable to keep them open. No matter how tired his body was, he couldn't sleep soundly at all. It was as if his mind was forced awake while his body rested. Was it a modification?

"Good, he's sleeping. Please proceed with wiping his memory." 

"Understood sir," 

A numbing feeling erupted from the core of his brain. For a moment, he couldn't move at all. 

"Finished sir," 

Finished? What had happened? Veigue felt nothing different about him at all. All his memories of the surgery were intact. Everything about Claire was intact. Everything about his jobs, his life, his family line, his friends, they were all intact. What was removed? Was anything even removed at all? 

While he lay in rest on the bed, powerful footsteps came into the room. 

"Is this the subject?" A powerful, booming voice muttered. 

"Yes, Veigue Lungberg, my own brother."

"I see a resemblance." The booming voice replied, "How successful was the surgery." 

"There were many times he came close to death. We tested his unconscious body before; he is capable of controlling powers far beyond the regular human." 

There was a sigh of astonishment, "Very interesting."

"We shall work on refining this process until it is deemed safe for you, Barbatos." 

The two men left the room leaving Veigue by himself. Deeming that he was in too much pain to move, Veigue just slept on the bed. His mind logically worked it out. Woodrow believed his memory was gone meaning he had no reason of keeping him confined. This would mean he would be released. 

However, before he blacked out, Claire was taken away. There was no way Woodrow would've harmed her. She was a famous celebrity from a powerful family. If he was releasing Veigue, he must've done something to Claire. 

His mind came to one conclusion.

After a short rest, Woodrow returned, "Brother!" 

Veigue blinked several times, feeling the exhaustion in his body fade away. He sat up, stretching as he did so, "What happened?" He asked, playing dumb. 

"You were hit by a car. You've been out for quite a while." Woodrow replied calmly. If Veigue really was brainwashed, he would've never seen through Woodrow's perfect acting. 

"Ugh…I see…" Veigue swung his feet over the bed and pulled himself up, "How long has it been?" 

"A week or so," 

Veigue sighed and grabbed his clothes from the nearby desk, "I'll need a job…" 

"Oh, that reminds me." Taking out a business card, Woodrow offered it to Veigue, "One of the partners of our business, Hugo, his son created his own freelancing company. Perhaps you would be interested in work there?" 

If his theory was true about Claire, he'd need a job for sure, "Alright, I'll take it." His brother wouldn't want to harm him. If he wanted to, he would've killed him from the start. He took the business card casually and placed it into his pocket, "I'll be going out now. Going back to the bar," 

As soon as he made sure his brother was gone, he rushed to Claire's mansion. The lights were on meaning she was in there. He knocked on the door quickly, "Claire!" 

Shyly, the door opened and Claire looked at Veigue, "Hello?" She said in a quiet-tone, the tone you would use to speak to a stranger, "Who are you?" 

Veigue paused, wondering what he should do, "It's me. Veigue Lungberg." 

Claire continued to stare at him, "I'm sorry…I don't know you. I really don't." 

Would reasoning spark anything? He had to try, "I was your bodyguard. Your memory of me was wiped away. Don't you find it strange that a celebrity like yourself has no personal bodyguards, only travel ones?"

Claire stared at him for a while. She then lessened the gap between the door and frame, "I'm sorry. I really don't know you." 

"But Claire, believe me!" 

Wandering around aimlessly in the city, Veigue came to one conclusion. Woodrow didn't just erase that event from Claire. He erased Veigue's existence to Claire. 

He had no where to go. He lived with Claire and gave up his apartment. He had no cash and his appearance gave off that of a bum. There really was only one thing to do. He took out the business card and gave it a quick scan with his eyes.

* * *

"After the alteration, I became immune to memory wiping. I'm glad that you still remember me." Veigue muttered, "And you're protecting Claire," 

"In your place," Mary replied, "Thank you, Veigue." She stood up and took out her wallet, "Because of you, I have a better job, I have a better life." She placed a few bills on the table to pay for the coffee and tea, "I promise, no matter what, I'll help Claire remember you." 

Veigue sighed, skeptical of her hope, "Yeah." He muttered coldly as he stood up, "I better get back." 

"Here, a present," Mary reached into her coat pocket and pulled out a pair of shades, "I found them in a drawer inside Claire's dressing room. They used to be yours, right?" Veigue took them and examined them thoroughly, "You know…Claire might look happy on the outside but I know inside, she truly isn't. Without you, without your memories, she'll never be truly happy. Same with you, right?" 

Veigue nodded, putting on his shades, "Yeah." A rare smile lit his face, "Thanks." 

Mary chuckled and stepped out, "We should have coffee more often."

* * *

Pretty much just a chapter explaining Veigue's story. Too many flashbacks! Anyway, next up "Turnabout Sages", featured in the Tales of Symphonia section next time! 


	14. Turnabout Sages Part 1

Moved into Symphonia section! Sorrry for the huge hiatus! So caught up with work that I didnt have time to work on this. The beginning of my Phoenix Wright, court case themed arc! Mostly an intro chapter so no court cases and interrogations here.

A little bit sappy near the middle but hopefully, that'll get cleared up as the arc goes on.

And to answer a question I'm pretty sure several people have on their mind about the last arc: "Why was Woodrow so out of character and evil?" Its because he resembles Veigue like crazy. It bothered me to the point where I had to make him evil. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

* * *

"Hey Raine!" Luke greeted as he opened the door, "Is Genius here too?"

Raine chuckled and stepped into the freelancer base, "Not today, he has homework."

With a mouthful of old pizza, Stahn looked up and turned to Raine, "Oh! Hi!" He shouted, spitting food at Leon in the process. Leon merely grumbled and brushed off the food.

The quiet and subtle Veigue gave a nod as his greeting and returned to eating his leftover pizza.

"Come on Leon, don't be rude!" Luke hissed to Leon as he kicked his couch, "Raine came all this way to see us!"

Leon turned slowly, first turning to Raine with a neutral expression, "Good to see you again." He then gave Luke a glare, "I was going to before you interrupted me."

Placing his hands on his belt, reproducing his famous pose in the process, Luke sighed and gave Leon a glare, "Well, you should've done it faster. You can't be rude to Raine!"

As the two swordsmen once again argued, Raine merely giggled and held out a brown bag Stahn had dubbed 'the brown bag of gods'.

Every once in a while, when Raine had free time, she would come by with some home cooked food in a brown bag to replace the old leftovers they often ate. To Stahn, she was like a goddess bestowing great blessings upon them.

"Is it more chili this time? I love your chili!" Stahn remarked like a happy little kid.

Veigue nodded in agreement as he took a container of chili from the bag. He opened it up slowly, watching the steam waft into the air, "Thank you very much for the food."

Raine turned to Luke as she picked up a small container, "I have some fried noodles here. Would you like some?"

Before Luke had settled into the freelancing corporation, which was pretty much before he met Raine, Luke was picky and often compared other people's works to trash unworthy to himself. The longer he stayed in the freelancing corporation, the longer his self-obsessed arrogance began to fade. Raine, he believed, was a key factor in this.

Something about Raine, it felt motherly. It was a kind of love he had never felt before. Van was his father; Jade took care of him, and miscellaneous servants interacted with him. When he was forced into the freelancing corporation, he worked alongside males that were around his age group. He always felt like a rich, snobby transfer student being stuck into a frat house of nagging misfits.

The more that he thought about it, his contact with females was pretty minimal. He occasionally talked with their landlord Natalia but that was only because he had to do so, similar to the clients the freelancing corporation worked with. Raine is probably the only female to walk into his life and interact closely with him.

He had no mother. Van never mentioned anything about his mother so Luke assumed his mother was in some fatal accident or she had broke up with Van. Raine was like his mother, possibly more.

What Barbatos mentioned to him before came to haunt him once again. He was a 'vessel' and whatever a vessel is, it probably had no mother.

After the small meal, the four freelancers relaxed on the couches, their stomach finally satisfied.

"Finally…" Leon sighed, "I haven't eaten well in a really long time."

"You're the best cook ever! Right next to Veigue," Stahn cheered with a large toothy smile.

Veigue bowed his head to Raine, "Thank you for the food."

"No problem," Raine replied with a motherly smile. She quickly packed up the containers and placed it into her bag.

"Huh? Are you leaving now?" Luke asked.

Raine nodded, "Yes, I have to buy some groceries for tonight's dinner. I'll see all of you soon!"

Almost automatically, Luke leapt to his feet, "Let me come with you!" Was it his care for Raine that made him want to follow? No…not entirely, he thought to himself. Raine used to work in the science labs. Perhaps she could answer the question that plagued his mind since his meeting with Barbatos. However, another thought came into his head. Would Raine be put into danger because of him? He remembered what had happened to Dist when he defected. He was engulfed in fear and curiosity.

"I don't mind if you come with me." Raine replied kindly with a smile, "I'd enjoy the extra company."

Leon chuckled and brought a bottle of water to his lips, "Isn't grocery shopping peasant work?"

"Shut up Leon," Luke hissed with a glare. Somehow, he regretted his change of heart since that eliminated the excuse of not following Raine and avoiding the question about his past.

* * *

Quietly, the two walked out. The need to ask nearly drove him mad but he stayed quiet. The two walked to the groceries and wandered around markets. The former Luke would've cringed in disgust as he passed the strong scent of ripe fruit in an open market with flies buzzing around the tall light on the ceiling. This Luke seemed to tune everything out. It still disgusted him but not as much as it would've a long time ago.

"And that's all I need to buy," Raine muttered to the zoned out Luke, "Are you alright?"

Luke looked down at her, "Oh. Yeah. I'm alright." He looked around himself, "Raine?"

An excited squeal behind him alerted him immediately. He jumped around to see Raine pressed against a store window.

"Raine…?"

With a smile plastered to her face, Raine turned to Luke with a highly comical expression, "Look there! They have a ruins exhibit at the museum!" Her eyes sparkled as she talked, "I love ruins!" She gestured towards the TV screen with great enthusiasm. She laughed loudly with a near insane look on her face, "Amazing! Isn't it amazing? I love ruins! The wall's material, the moldy scent, what it would be like to be in the middle of an ancient ruin!" She held her hands together with a large smile, "I wonder how much it would be worth!" She rubbed her face against the store window, "I want to get closer to it so badly!"

Luke blinked several times, "Ruin…mania?"

Clearing her throat, Raine stood up and dusted off her clothes, "Someday, I want to explore an ancient ruin!"

"What about that exhibit?"

Raine sighed and pulled up her grocery bags from the floor, "The exhibit tickets cost a lot of money. I don't have enough for it right now."

Feeling generous only to her, Luke spoke up, "The freelancing company recently finished a really big job. We could lend you some money." He really didn't know how much money they still had from the 'rescue Sheena' mission but he assumed that there would be enough.

"No, you need that money for your own needs. I'd feel wrong to take it."

Luke shook his head, "Heck! We don't need it! Consider it payment for all the food you give us all the time!" He shouted from his heart, not really considering what the others would think of this.

Raine chuckled, giving him a small whack on the head, "Come now. You need to save up that money! You don't have to waste it on me."

Luke winced playfully. As soon as that moment passed, the two walked back to the freelancing corporation, both of them laughing at each other's stories.

"…alright…so, Leon is in love with Sheena!"

"No way! Sheena is nineteen!" Raine replied like a gossiping high school girl, "How old is he? Fourteen?"

Luke chuckled with a smirk and shook his head, "Nope. Sixteen,"

Raine laughed, ending with an evil smirk on her face, "Sheena will never hear the end of it!"

"I'm going to torment Leon for the rest of my life as a freelancer!" Luke chuckled with Raine. He spotted the run-down apartment building where the freelancing corporation was located at up ahead, "Oh! We're almost there."

"That was a good chat with you." Raine replied. There was a brief pause as Raine waited for Luke to reply, "Luke?"

Days' worth of thoughts rushed through his head. If he didn't ask Raine now, he would suffer from his memories till the next time they meet. The curiosity nearly drove him mad. He turned to Raine, a serious expression plastered to his face, "Raine…can you help me?"

Her expression softening, Raine nodded in reply, "Sure."

"A while ago, someone told me that I was a 'vessel'. They also mentioned Jade and my father Van as well as a man called Asch. You were a scientist before at Jade's lab. Do you think…you can help me figure out what…I am and who are these people to me?" Luke immediately broke out of his solemn and glum mood, "But! If it'll put you in danger…don't do it!"

A brief silence filled the air. Raine smiled and nodded, "I'll do what I can. You are the people who saved my brother and saved my life."

The two began to walk; the short walk seemed like an eternity due to the awkward silence that was made between the two. Raine cleared her throat and broke through it, "I never noticed this but…your hair nearly drags on the floor now."

Luke glanced down, looking at the dirtied bottoms of his hair, "Oh. I didn't notice that. Maybe I'll get it cut,"

"Why don't you get it cut tomorrow? There's a really nice hair stylist down near where I work."

"Oh, the rehabilitation centre?"

Ever since Raine had been fired from her job at the labs, she had found a job as a psychiatrist down at a well-known rehab building. Though the pay wasn't as high, Raine was forever grateful that she had gotten a decent job.

Luke personally wanted to turn this down. He took pride in his long and glossy red hair. However, he wanted to spend more time with Raine. It was against his personality to purposely go out first just to meet with someone for fun. He always needed a reason to meet someone.

"Sure," He replied, almost involuntarily, "I'll even walk with you in the morning to work!"

The two said their goodbyes and split in different directions. Luke watched as Raine disappeared around the corner. The more he thought about it, Raine is the only parental figure he had. All this time he had believed Jade to be this person but Jade had in fact kept gruesome secrets hidden from him. Van was never around so he barely talked to his 'father'. Since the day he met Raine, his heart began to change. It began to soften and get warmer.

He stepped into the apartment to see the three swordsmen huddled together talking. Once in a while, he heard his name in the small huddle.

"Are you talking about me!" Luke barked at the three.

* * *

Back at her home computer, Raine finished up a few documents for her clients at work, "Mr. Bryant…" She muttered as she began typing again. She looked over her monitor to see Genius walking into his room to rest. She looked back down and continued her work.

As soon as she finished, she sighed in relief, leaning back in her chair. Just before she clicked shut down on her computer, she paused. Thinking about what Luke said, she moved her mouse over to her recycling bin. She dragged out an old application she once used to look over the lab's activity. Still remembering the lab password, she quickly entered and searched around the files.

* * *

The next morning, Luke got up early so he could get ready for the day. Leon, barely awake, looked up at the bright red back of Luke, "What…? Why are you awake so early?"

"Nothing you need to know of,"

Leon chuckled tiredly, "It's for Raine, huh?"

"Quiet you, Sheena-lover."

Leon got onto his elbows and pushed himself off the couch, "Do you want to get into a fight in the morning?"

Snidely, Luke pointed at Leon's powder blue coloured pajamas, "Nice pajamas," He muttered sarcastically.

The doorbell broke the growing tension between the two. Luke rushed over to the door, greeting Raine and Genius, and then leaving the apartment.

Genius skipped alongside Luke, "Hey! Why are you here?"

"Getting a hair cut, are you skipping school?" Luke replied with a smirk.

"Nope! It's a holiday today!"

The two held up a conversation with one another quite well. Raine watched the two as if they were siblings playfully quarreling over a trivial matter.

"Did you eat breakfast yet?" Luke asked. Raine remained quiet, "Huh? What's wrong?"

Snapping out of her silence, Raine gave Luke a smile, "It's nothing. I just stayed up late working." Deep down, the truth that Luke wanted to know settled at the pit of her soul. She had learned secrets that could tear Luke apart. She couldn't bring herself to say them.

Engaged in small talk, the three soon entered the office. It was a moderate sized room with many books stacked on the back wall. There were several plastic couches by the walls in-between several statues. In the middle was a large desk with several chairs placed before it.

"This office isn't that bad." Luke commented.

A while after they settled in, a large man with long blue hair walked in.

"Ah, Mr. Bryant, good to see you again," Raine muttered. Genius and Luke immediately stepped out of the way to allow the man to sit down on the chairs.

The two stayed quiet for quite a while, waiting for the man to leave so they could all talk again. Genius soon began nodding off, leaning against the couch to rest. Luke yawned after, lying down on the couch. With a small wave to Raine, Luke closed his eyes and dozed off.

* * *

After a long nap, Luke was awoken by a powerful force pulling on his wrist. He looked up to see a tall, auburn haired man in a navy blue uniform.

"Who are you?" Luke asked tiredly.

"Detective Kratos Aurion, you're under arrest for suspicion of the murder of Raine Sage."

I'm sure this was expected, no? I'm not sure when I'll be able to get the next chapter up, so much work to do. Darn...I just realized...Stahn hasnt had his own arc yet...ah well, I'll make an arc for him next time!


	15. Turnabout Sages Part 2

Ack! Sorry for the extremely long hiatus. Havent gotten free time to write this. Summitives are hell beyond hell...(Cries)

First up, some changes to names. I'm going to take Fishy's advice and use "Genis" from now on. I apologize if I'll suddenly switch from "Genis" to "Genius" in future chapters. Consistency is hard for me.

Second, the court cases and "CSI" stuff that'll be mentioned in this arc are all loosely based around pop culture sources(Like the show CSI or Phoenix Wright) so the majority of everything is completely inaccurate to real court cases.

I'll shut up now. Pre-warn: This arc will feature many Tales chars

* * *

Hell raised as the young, black hair man followed by two swordsmen stomped through the metal halls. The black haired man settled himself down in a seat in front of a glass window.

"That damn bastard…what has he gotten himself into now?" Leon groaned in annoyance.

"I'm sure he just got into a fight or something. Or maybe he broke something really valuable. It seems like something he'd do." Stahn replied dumbly, "I guess all our money goes down the drain again, huh?"

Leon held a palm to his forehead, "That idiot…"

Veigue placed a hand on Leon's shoulder, "Calm down."

"I'll try…" Leon growled under his breath.

* * *

"Prisoner 150 – S, your visitor has arrived."

With a lazy gaze, Luke looked up at the officer standing by the door. The interrogation with detective Kratos Aurion had worn him out mentally. The man had eyes like swords. It shook Luke to the core when the man glared at him.

On top of the demon detective, he was accused of the murder of Raine, his only true parental figure. It wore him down mentally because, deep down, it was his fault. He only thought of one reason: He asked Raine to look back into her former work which he knew clearly was a huge taboo. So, he really did kill Raine after all.

He got to his feet and followed the red-haired guard by the door. He chuckled silently at the fact that both the detective and his assigned guard had red hair. There really was no reason for chuckling; Luke just needed something to distract himself.

"I don't think you're guilty." The red haired guard muttered as they walked down the hall.

Luke looked up at the man. The only response that crept from his mouth was a small groan before he dropped his head.

"You don't look like you're guilty at all." The guard finished as he opened the door and pulled Luke in.

Luke seated in front of the glass window facing an extremely frustrated Leon.

"What mess did you get yourself into this time?" Leon hissed, "If this is some petty bar fight, I'm going to be pissed off!" He was responded by solemn silence and a solemn expression. Caught by surprise, Leon immediately shut off his anger, "Luke, what happened?"

"Raine…" Luke whispered, "She's dead."

The three were shocked silent instantly.

"I killed her…" Luke added, slumping over, "I killed her…" He gripped his head tightly and screamed in anguish, "I didn't want to kill her!"

"Luke!" Leon shouted as he slammed his hand onto the desk, "Please calm down!"

"What have I done?" Luke shouted as he bent over, "This is…"

Stahn pressed his hands against the window, "Hey! Luke! Are you alright?"

Leon hissed at Stahn's remark, "Does he look alright to you?"

Veigue looked to the red haired guard in charge of Leon, "Please, calm him down."

The red haired guard nodded, reaching to Luke, "Please sir, you'll alert the other guards."

Luke faced the guard, fear of himself plastered on his face. He looked back at the floor, breathing in slowly.

"Leon…" Luke whispered, "I killed Raine." His body shook as he held his head in his hands.

Leon sighed, wiping beads of sweat from his forehead, "Guard," He snapped, "Bring him back to his cell. Luke needs to rest." Shoving his chair back, Leon headed for the door.

"Wait! We can't leave him alone here!" Stahn shouted in panic, running after Leon.

"I'm afraid if we stay here any longer, Luke might snap." Leon replied calmly, "He's extremely unstable right now. Raine was his closest friend. His only parental figure…"

"What about that Jade guy?"

Thinking back to what Keel had told him at the labs, Leon cringed, "Like I said, Raine was his closest friend and only parental figure.

Veigue followed silently behind the two, his mind slowly calculating the situation, "Luke really did kill Raine."

A loud exclaim of disbelief came from the light-hearted blonde, "What! No way! Luke wouldn't do that! He's our friend!"

Leon pushed the door open, stepping outside, hair shrouding his eyes in shadow, "We're his friends, make no mistake of that. That's why we know for sure Luke killed Raine."

Stahn said nothing. No matter how much his mind refused to comprehend it. He believed Luke killed Raine. Luke's reaction was enough for the three of them to believe that.

* * *

As soon as the three swordsmen left, Luke bent over, breaking down completely. It was his stubborn pride that refused him from showing such a weak side to his friends. In a way, he was extremely similar to Leon.

The guard stood there watching Luke. He didn't want to bother a man while he broke down.

"You! Hershel!" Another guard shouted from behind.

The red haired guard turned to the guard, "Yes sir?"

"Take the man back to his cell, what are you waiting for?"

"Understood," The red haired guard replied as he gave Luke a small shake, "Come on, let's get back to the cell."

Luke stood up quietly, walking back voluntarily. Once Luke was locked back inside his cell, the red haired guard leaned against the bars, "I think you're innocent. You just need a few facts to be cleared first."

* * *

Night had arrived. The daytime of confusion settled into the darkness of night.

The three swordsmen sat around the kitchen table. All three of them discussed and debated about the situation thoroughly.

"The court case is in a few days. The crime scene investigators are currently sweeping the place of clues as we speak." Veigue started, looking through the papers he had received at the police station, "They will provide us with a lawyer, correct?"

Leon nodded, "Yeah, but with someone that has given up and is uncooperative, there isn't a lawyer that could save him."

"We'd need some super lawyer or something…" Stahn sighed, "Like Phoenix,"

Leon sighed heavily, "I'm glad you still have your humourous side. We need a miracle for this."

As if on cue, the doorbell rang. Stahn stood up from the table and waddled over to the door. The man that stood before him was the red-haired guard from before.

"Huh? Why are you here?" Stahn replied bluntly.

"You three are Luke's guardians right?" The red haired guard asked, "I'm Reid Hershel, the guard that's in charge of Luke."

Leon sighed and leaned back on his chair, "Yes? So?"

"Well…what I want to say is that, I think Luke is innocent even if he believes he's guilty. He's just a little confused. In order to clear his name, we'll need a strong person defending him!" Reid replied.

Leon snorted, "What? Are you going to defend him? Last time I checked, you were just a guard." Leon snapped, feeling quite spiteful. This man just bothered him with his optimism.

"No, I called in a friend of mine from Iselia. He's a defense attorney, a fairly famous one too. "

Veigue glanced up, "That's pretty far."

"Yeah, he works as a craftsman there during his free time. He knew Raine Sage so right after I told him about the case, he rushed over here. I already recommended him to Luke's guardians."

"He knows Raine?" Leon whispered under his breath.

"So, who's the guy?" Stahn asked, "What's his name?"

"Lloyd," A man with spiky brown hair and red clothes stepped in through the door, suitcase hung over his shoulder, "Lloyd Irving, ace attorney."

* * *

Might take a while for the next few chapters, I'll see if I can squeeze another one in today. I promise...more Detective Kratos next time!


	16. Turnabout Sages Part 3

After possibly a few months, I have returned with another addition to the story. The updates are really random so I apologize for that. This chapter is really written more to my love of CSI so I got slightly out of hand during the description of the murder and such. I apologize for that if this chapter is boring. Hopefully, I can get more exciting things in the next chapter.

* * *

"Never heard of you before," Leon muttered plainly to the spiky haired attorney.

Lloyd looked stunned, "What!"

Stahn nodded in agreement, "Same here. I only remember seeing you at a party. I've never heard of you in my life! Right Veigue?"

"I'm honoured to meet you." Veigue calmly stated as he offered a handshake to Lloyd, "I've seen you many times on late night talk shows."

With a large grin, Lloyd took Veigue's hand and shook it, "I'm glad at least one of you has heard of me! Anyway, we should get straight to business now." He swung his suitcase onto the table, snapping open the locks as he did so, "Alright," He took out a few notes and placed them onto the table.

Leon took one curiously. He examined it carefully, "Wait a second; this is just background information about Luke! There's some about Raine too. Wait, and Genis?" Leon slammed the notes onto the table, "What are you pulling here!"

"A lawyer must never overlook any clues." Lloyd replied calmly, "And besides, I had this extra information left over. I wanted to grab it." He turned to Reid who stood calmly by the door, "You said you wanted to help in this case, right?"

Reid nodded and stepped beside Lloyd, "That's right. Luke's innocent, I know it. He's just in hysteria right now."

"I don't think that's the case." Leon replied calmly, "I'm sure Luke killed Raine. Just, not in the way everyone thinks."

"I believe in him!" Stahn exclaimed, "And I'll help as much as I possibly can to prove his innocence!"

Leon rolled his eyes, "And when you say 'as much as you can', you really mean none at all…"

Lloyd cleared his throat loudly to get everyone's attention, "Meet me outside the police station tomorrow morning at 10. I have a friend who's a forensic scientist there who will let us examine the clues they found. You may look over those notes I gave you. You might find something of interest." With that, he turned to the door with Reid following behind him, "This case is still wide open." He suavely stated as if it was a famous catchphrase.

The three freelancers sat around dumbly for a second.

"That guy's annoying." Leon muttered.

* * *

"Prisoner 150 – S, meet your new tenant!" Detective Aurion muttered as a tall, blonde haired man stepped in and sat down, "The guards here say that you've lost it. I'm glad." He slammed his fist into the bars, "A murderer deserves to lose everything, even their minds." With that, the demon detective left.

Luke looked up; his lifeless eyes examined the blond haired individual before him. His hair was short and messy and his eyes were a clear shade of blue-green. He wasn't ugly, Luke was sure of that.

"I'm Luke." Luke muttered softly. He needed something to clear his mind. He needed something to break the silence that trapped him inside his own thoughts, "Who are you?"

"Guy Cecil," The man replied calmly, "Good to see I won't be alone here."

Luke nodded slowly, "What are you here for?"

Guy chuckled and leaned against the wall, "I'm charged for the murder of the entire Gardios family. To tell you the truth, I'm innocent. I swear. But you wouldn't believe me even if I told you, would you?"

Luke chuckled and leaned forward, "Not at all. I know I'm guilty. I killed my greatest friend and now I'll pay the price."

"I don't believe you."

"What?"

"That's not the face of a killer." Guy muttered calmly, "That's the face of a framed man."

It was silent at first. Luke was trying his best to think up an answer that he could swallow. He ended with only one, "No…"

Guy was dumbfounded at first. His cell mate was someone who had already given up hope. The melancholy of it all soon caught up to him, "In a few days, this will happen to me too. I will give up hope too?"

Luke didn't know what to say. He just stayed silent again.

* * *

The next day came much sooner than the three freelancing swordsmen expected. They were all too anxious to assist Lloyd in clearing Luke's name. Despite what the others felt of Luke, he was their friend. Even if he could be an arrogant, obnoxious nuisance at times, he was a part of the freelancing swordsmen four.

The three stood there, lost in a trance of the thoughts about what had happened to Luke. Their trance soon broke into a moment of patience as all their thoughts soon emptied their mind. Another half hour later, the patience soon faded away into annoyance.

Leon took a glance at his wrist watch, "Where…is…he…?" He growled, "We've been waiting here…for an hour!" He barked.

"Hello there!" Lloyd greeted as he came towards the three, "I'm sorry I'm a little late. I woke up later, then I went to grab some breakfast. Oh, and there was this huge traffic jam!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Leon growled.

Stahn yawned loudly, stretching as he did so, "Alright, so, where's your friend?"

"She's inside here." Lloyd replied as he entered the building. The three followed quietly, "Usually, they wouldn't let regular people in here. Lucky for me," Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a personalized keycard, "I've got you covered with this. It pays to have connections to high places."

Leon leaned over to Stahn, "This guy pisses me off…" Leon grumbled under his breath.

"He's so shiny." Stahn replied with a dumbfounded look on his face, "What do you say Veigue?"

Calmly, Veigue pointed to the "Keep your voices down" sign that was hung on the wall. The blond haired man shut up on the spot and continued to walk.

"So," Veigue murmured in a sultry and quiet voice, "Who is this person we're meeting?"

"Her name is Arche Klaine. She's a little overexcited most of the time but in the business, she does the best work."

Leon arched his eyebrow, "Business? You'd refer to the job of a forensic scientist as a business?"

His tone was rude and skeptical.

After a brief moment of silence and a few blinks, Stahn leaned over to Lloyd and whispered into his ear, "Don't worry, he doesn't have anything against you. He always sounds like this." Lloyd nodded in acknowledgement.

The four swordsmen stopped in front of a mechanical door labeled "Forensics lab" on the side. With a hand on the door, Lloyd looked at the three, "The air in here might be a bit stuffy since many flesh and substance samples are kept here. Try not to knock anything over and stay quiet."

"Hear that Stahn?" Leon grumbled to the taller blonde.

Veigue nodded to Lloyd, "Understood."

With a nod, Lloyd turned to the keycard reader. However, before he could swipe the card through. The doors slid open. Like a demon stepping out of the shadows, detective Kratos stepped out with his trademark scowl. As if a crude comment was thrown at him, Lloyd stepped back almost in fear. The demon detective merely shot a glare at him before walking past the crowd. Before the demon detective's back faced the crowd, Lloyd shot a glare back at him. Observing this, Leon could tell there was something deeper than any mere rivalry. While he was curious, more important matters were at hand.

As Lloyd had mentioned before, the air was dramatically thicker than the air outside. While Lloyd and those who worked there were used to it, the three freelancing swordsmen had to adapt to it slowly.

"Lloyd!" A shrill female voice shouted.

"Ah, Arche Klaine," Lloyd replied with a large smile, "We were looking for you."

At first look, the pink haired girl stood about a head shorter than Lloyd and gave off a mid-teen age. Stahn, being the slowest of the three, was unable to comprehend what he saw.

"Hey Leon, there's no way this girl is old enough to have a job!" Stahn whispered.

"Perhaps she is just young in appearance?" Leon replied, "What do you think Veigue?"

"Nice to meet you Miss Arche Klaine," Veigue greeted with a handshake to the pink haired woman, "I've seen you many on late night talk shows. You really look much younger than you really are."

With a giggle, Arche shook Veigue's hand, "Nice to meet you! I'm glad someone knows of me!" Letting go of his hand, Arche cleared her throat and assumed a more composed stature, "Anyway, I was the coroner of Miss Sage's body so I can provide you with details from the autopsy." The pink-haired forensic scientist then gave a small, childish smirk as if she were extremely proud of something, "I also took the extra time to run through clues at the crime scene."

Lloyd chuckled, "I could always count on you." He turned to the three swordsmen, "Alright team, this is Arche Klaine: Forensic scientist extraordinaire. These three are Leon, Stahn, and Veigue. Alright team, to the office!"

"Right, right," Leon grumbled. The mood of what they were doing was supposed to be solemn. Why was the mood so happy and cheerful?

The four were led into an office where several images were lit up on a projector and files were scattered all over the desk.

"I won't be able to show you images of the body itself due to privacy issues." Arche started. She turned to her desk and picked up a lavender folder, "The cause of her death was impact against the cranium. By the looks of it, it was definitely a blunt object; possibly a baseball bat. Also judging from the cracks, the wound was made more from force than from mass of the weapon. The wound is located right on the back of the victim's cranium, right at ear level. Safe to say, she died on impact. There was nothing else on the body that was unusual. With the condition of her death, it's safe to say that anyone could have done it."

"Right, that's the problem." Lloyd replied to the quiet swordsman's comment, "The death itself is vague."

Arche grinned gleefully.

Almost too gleefully….Leon glared at the girl, not in suspicion, but in her utter devotion to the job that she did not consider the mood that was circulating. He was a nitpicker. He couldn't help it.

Pressing a few buttons on the computer, the projector shot a blueprint of the office covered in labels, "As you can see, Raine's desk is positioned right against the middle of this back wall. Her body was found slumped over the desk facing perpendicular to the wall." She rubbed her palms together in excitement as she pressed a button on her keyboard. The blueprint suddenly warped into a three-dimensional image of the office complete with furniture and shapes representing bodies.

"Whoa!" Stahn shouted in excitement as he nudged Leon, "That's awesome!" Leon said nothing in reply, signaling the blonde man to shut up silently.

"There were blood splatters found on the back wall behind Raine. And, as mentioned before, her body was slumped forward on the desk. This would imply that someone struck her from behind." Double clicking, an image of blood splatters against the wall came up, "These are images taken directly from the crime scene. There were no other marks on the floor as well as no signs of any struggle or forced entry."

"So…someone snuck in and killed her!" Stahn concluded with the evidence, "Because there's no forced entry or anything!"

"Not possible," Leon replied calmly as he slowly took in the facts, "The room itself is fairly big. I've been in the office before too. The floor creaks. Even if she wasn't looking up, she could've heard the person approaching. If she was looking up, she would've seen someone come in. It must've been someone she trusted. It must be someone who could've gotten close enough to her without alarming her." Unconsciously, he had implicated Luke to the murder already.

"That's how it appears." Lloyd added, "The odds are stacked against your friend."

"You're wrong." The three swordsmen turned to the silver haired swordsman, "This model is to scale, right? With everything in place," Arche replied with a nod, "If Raine had been sitting up," With a few clicks, Arche produced a sitting model behind the desk. A glowing red spot had been positioned behind her head to represent where she was hit, "There is no room at all for the swing. Not even a punch." Veigue explained with a pointer in his hand, "And because of her position, she must've been hit directly from behind. By any other angle, she wouldn't have fallen like that. And if she was slammed backwards into the wall, she would've fallen down the other way. If she was facing down to begin with, the impact would've most definitely caused a fracture in her forehead. But, it didn't. According to the autopsy of course,"

"Veigue the super detective," Stahn murmured in awe with a clap.

Arche giggled in excitement, "Correct. I was thinking if you could notice it."

Veigue nodded solemnly, "I've watched you on talk shows a lot. I believe your skills of deduction have rubbed off on me." He muttered in serious monotone. It was hard to tell if he was joking or not.

Leon reached a hand over to the keyboard, summoning the picture of blood splatters onto the screen again, "How about those?"

"That's good! Now, take a good look at the blood splatters." Arche expanded the image, "Don't they look too perfect?"

"Excuse me?" Leon muttered dryly, "This isn't a TV show here."

Veigue nodded in agreement with Arche, "She's right. This blood splatter is too…clean. They're only small specks surrounded one thick splotch. Blood splatters…" Veigue paused, suddenly captured in a moment where he observed many of his own blood splatters, "…they're not as uniform as this one."

Lloyd nodded, stroking his chin, "Really…I have no idea what's going on. You'll have to give it to me in laymen's terms."

"Just another idiot…" Leon muttered under his breath.

"Simply put, by the inflicted wound, force needed, and the space provided, the only way she could be in that position is if someone planted her there." Veigue started.

"On top of that, the blood splatter appears fabricated. Though that won't help us in the long run, we can use it as a point." Arche added, "We need a motive for doing so now!"

"Planting a body to make it appear as if they were murdered there," Veigue replied, "As if to frame someone…using all the clues to come up with the most obvious conclusion."

"Yes!" Arche finished, "To draw Leon's conclusion of this situation!"

"Enough with this finishing each other's sentence thing!" Stahn exclaimed, "You're making my head hurt…"

Leon nodded in agreement. As preposterous as this seemed, it was drawn on solid facts, "Sounds good…but who's the real murderer then? And why go through all this trouble?"

* * *

Ends a bit boring in my opinion. Too much explaining, nothing actually happening. Thank you for reading! And I hope I can get another update in soon!


	17. Turnabout Sages Part 4

Here we go! Another update!

Sadly to say, I personally found this chapter really boring to type up. As usual, too much explaining, not enough actual action. I think after the "Two's a crowd" arc, everything is just so much slower in comparison. I'll try to speed it up again!

* * *

Of all the freelancing swordsmen, Stahn was the last Luke thought he'd see coming alone to talk to him in the jail. If anyone, it would've been Leon since he asserted himself unconsciously as the mother figure of the four. Veigue would be a close second since he was always composed and calm which he could use to calm Luke down. But Stahn? Happy go lucky Stahn? Luke had a hard time even thinking that this guy could understand the heat of this situation.

Either way, Luke really had no intention of talking. He didn't want to save himself. After all, he brought it onto himself, did he not?

"Hey Luke…" Stahn started calmly. His expression got softer when he saw the lack of response, "…We got a really good lawyer on our side. And we figured out lots of things to clear your name! Yeah, we'll get you out of there!" Once again, there was no response.

"Get him out of there? You really think he deserves that?" The loud booming, almost terrifying, voice could only belong to one man. Stahn turned around to face the demon detective Kratos, "Look at the man. He's guilty all over. On top of that, he regrets the murder. The only thing that disgusts me more than a crime is regretting the crime." The man sneered, "If you were just going to regret it afterwards, you shouldn't have done it in the first place. All you've done is waste away someone's life in vain."

Stahn looked at the pain-stricken Luke. In response to Kratos, he shook his head firmly, "It's better to regret! That way, you will never do it again." Stahn muttered in a deep tone, "And on top of that, Luke is definitely innocent! There's no way he'd kill Raine."

Kratos scoffed at this man's words, "I'm not so petty a detective to victimize the most obvious suspect. That man's the only one to plead guilty."

"The only one? There are others?"

"Regal Bryant of Lezareno Corporation who is also a common patient of Miss Raine as well as Genis Sage,"

Luke's head immediately perked up at the mention of Genis, "No way, he couldn't have done it!" The light had returned to his eyes. He caused Raine to die. He could at least protect Genis from any blame.

"Oh? So you can talk." Kratos muttered coldly, "A suspect is a suspect." The demon detective turned to the exit, "Be it a youth, angel, or old man; everyone is a suspect in a crime." He suavely stated. The delivery was reminiscent of Lloyd's catchphrase when he met them the first time.

Stahn's first impression of the demon detective: Not as bad as he thought though the man could definitely use a vacation.

"Stahn," Luke muttered, immediately drawing attention from Stahn, "Genis couldn't have done it. But if there is anything that could possibly make him a suspect, ask your lawyer to protect him."

Without a pause, Stahn gave him a thumbs-up, "Will do." He watched as Luke was escorted back to his cell by Reid, "Good to see he's getting better." Stahn said with a toothy grin, "Don't worry, we'll definitely save you both!"

* * *

Whistling a merry tune, Lloyd strolled down the sidewalk towards a bar. Looking ahead, he saw Leon leaning against the stained glass window and decided to wave, "Hello there!"

"You're late." Leon hissed at the attorney, "Don't say it. Breakfast again? Or is it another traffic jam on the sidewalk?"

Lloyd blinked a few times at first, "Wow, you really need to go on a vacation with Sheena." He replied with a smug grin.

A scoff came from Leon, "I don't need a-Hey!" He growled, "Who told you? I don't like Sheena!"

Lloyd chuckled with a large grin on his face, "Zelos of course. He's a good friend of mine. He said you were all over Sheena."

"That's not true!"

"Right, right, I don't blame you. Everyone falls on love someday."

Not wanting to fight a losing battle, Leon quickly brushed off the topic, "Let's just get back to the important matters."

"Right, let's talk in here." Lloyd gestured to the bar the stood beside, "The bar serves as a diner in the daytime and not many people come to eat. They also make a great rice bowl." Leon rolled his eyes as they entered, "Seat for two please! Two rice bowls as well!"

"Sit anywhere you like," The pony-tailed bartender replied.

"Hey! Mary," Lloyd greeted, "Good to see you here. Taking your break from being Claire's bodyguard?"

"Claire? Claire Bennett?" Leon asked.

"The one and only," Mary replied with a chuckle, "You want an autograph?"

Leon snorted, "No way. But my friend might want one. He's a huge fan." He turned back to Lloyd, "Back to business," He muttered as he sat down.

"Right," Lloyd replied, "Through the facts I've received I will present the case that Luke has no motive. If the prosecutor tries to use your theory, I will present the case that the murder would not be possible in that room. However, the murder could've taken place somewhere else and Luke can still be pegged as the murderer. We need a new suspect, their true motive, and their reason for planting the body there. If we get those, we can most likely win over the jury."

Leon nodded in agreement, "Just get ready to fend off any attacks from the opposing side."

"No problem, there's no one who can stand against Lloyd of Iselia!" Lloyd bellowed proudly.

"Don't be so sure of that." Mary interrupted as she placed down two extremely well made rice bowls completely with egg, fresh sliced salmon, beef strips, onion, and seaweed crumbled on top, "I was at the studio last night. Apparently, Legretta the quick appeared in this late night talk show."

As she talked, Lloyd gorged on his rice ball. At the mention of "Legretta", he immediately froze, "That prosecutor. She's in town?"

"Yeah and there's only one case going on right now: Yours."

"Who's Legretta the quick?" Leon asked as he looked at his rice bowl.

Lloyd whistled as he placed down his empty rice bowl, "She's an extremely efficient prosecutor. She's known to win the jury over in mere seconds. That's why she's referred to as Legretta the quick. She's also funded by business tycoon Van."

"…excuse me?" Leon asked. Van was the name of Luke's "father". Was it not?

"Legretta is sponsored by Van: The 'overlord' of all scientific research. I guess they need good prosecutors on their side to protect them."

Leon kept his mouth shut about it. No need dragging in more drama into this. On top of that, Legretta being funded by Van could have nothing to do with Luke at all. It could be about Raine formerly working for Jade for all he knew. However, it could also mean another thing.

"Are they trying to frame Luke?"

* * *

"This room is clean, save for the blood on the desk and on the back wall." Veigue exclaimed as he took off his goggles, "No blood splatters anywhere else."

Arche pondered as she paced back and forth in the room, "Then…maybe the murder didn't happen in here!" She shouted cheerfully at her deduction, "To the security room!" She exclaimed as she pointed to the camera located in the hall.

Happily, Arche skipped down the hall to the security room on the far end of the building. Veigue briskly walked behind Arche. It was like putting a jester next to a funeral director.

The two split up in the office. Veigue talked with the security officers while Arche looked at the video footage from the camera.

In a moment, Veigue returned to Arche ready to share the information he learned, "Apparently, only Luke, Genis, and a patient called Regal had entered the office. Regal exited the office several times and appears to have headed to the bathroom. No one suspicious entered the building and the only irregulars were furniture shippers." There was no response from the pink haired scientist, "Miss Klaine?"

Arche tapped on the screen in response, "There's a blind spot."

"I shall check it out." Veigue replied calmly. He stepped out into the hallway in front of Raine's office and faced the camera, "You can see me?" His voice was slightly garbled by the camera microphone.

"Dead center!" Arche shouted down the hallway. Her loud voice almost shattering windows as it echoed down to Veigue.

Slowly, Veigue etched over to the right, "Tell me when you can't see me." He muttered to the camera. Only mere steps from the wall did Arche give the signal, "That's more than enough room to walk around." He twisted his head around to face a side exit, "Miss Klaine?"

There was silence at first. Suddenly, Arche frantically waved at the silver haired man. Hurriedly, Veigue rushed back to the room.

"According to these schedules I found, the camera was fixed this morning by the Lezareno Company. Furniture was also delivered around that time by the Lezareno Company!"

Veigue looked over his clues for a bit. The story based off the facts would be that the blind spot was rigged so when Raine left the room she'd be concealed by the blind spot. She was murdered somewhere unseen by anyone. Afterwards, her body was snuck back in using the furniture shipping to frame someone else.

"Isn't Regal Bryant the owner of Lezareno?" Arche murmured, "He…he need psychiatric help over the death of his lover where he accidentally killed her. Could he have killed her?"

"Alright, let's report this to Lloyd." Arche declared, "Right now, we just need to clear Luke's name for the court case. We can leave the rest of the evidence gathering to other members of the CSI. I'm going to scan the exterior of the building. Then we can tell Lloyd and eat!" Happily, Arche skipped out of the building.

Veigue examined the evidence over and over again in his head. Everything pointed at an attempt to frame Luke. Regal even had the motive to. He was psychologically sick. He was part of a huge company and needed to protect his name so he framed Luke using his resources. It was the perfect scenario.

"Too perfect…" Veigue mumbled under his breath. Something was not right at all. Whatever the case, protecting Luke came first. The truth had to wait.

* * *

Apologies for the slow chapter, really. The court case next chapter might speed things up a bit. Thanks for reading!


	18. Turnabout Sages Part 5

Apologies for huge hiatus! I really intended to only take a small break from writing this. Then new video games came out, school started, and I never got around to adding more chapters. And this chapter was half done before I stopped writing them. To people who are reading this, I really apologize for not sending in more chapters!

* * *

Luke was once against called to for a visit. To his surprise, it wasn't a prep talk from Stahn and it wasn't any evidence gatherers like Lloyd or Arche. It was Veigue.

"Luke," Veigue murmured quietly, "We finish the investigation. We have enough evidence to prove your innocence." Luke nodded in return, "But…you're not telling us something. There's something you know that can change the outcome of our results."

Could he risk telling Veigue? It's safe to say that if this information got out that Veigue and possibly everyone in the court could get erased to maintain confidentiality.

Luke smiled innocently, "Sorry. But I don't know what you're talking about."

Veigue was silent at first. He then nodded in return and stood up, "I respect your decision." He replied as he turned, "I won't push you for anymore information." Slowly, Veigue walked out of the room.

Reid soon returned to escort Luke back. Quietly, Luke shuffled back to his cell where his blonde-haired cellmate waited.

"I heard your case is tomorrow." Guy muttered as he shifted his head to look at Luke, "Good luck."

Luke sighed and hung his head down, "I'll need it."

"You've gotten a lot better than when I first met you." Guy commented, "You were so quiet. I thought I'd be stuck with a suicidal maniac."

Luke replied with a mere shrug. His mood gradually lightened as more time passed. He couldn't tell why. Was it because he slowly believed it wasn't his fault anymore? Was it because he knew that he could protect Genis with his own arrest? Who knew…?

"Prisoner- No, Luke," Reid alerted with a knock to the bars, "You have another visitor."

Guy chuckled and waved to him, "You're a popular man."

Luke replied with a small smirk as he stepped out of the cell. Slowly, he marched down to the visitor booth, "Who's it this time?" His eyes widened at the sight of Jade sitting before him, "You!"

"Good to see you Luke." Jade greeted with a half-hearted smile. He didn't know whether to be glad to see him or sorry to see him in jail, "Your court case is tomorrow. I'll definitely be there."

"Yeah…thanks…" Luke replied calmly. The sight of Jade always calmed him down. After all, he was like a father to him. The only time he considered Jade all a fake would be…

Luke's eyes widened dramatically. Sitting before him was the director of the scientific research division. It was the same division that Raine had worked in. The same division where she would've searched for information. The same division that executed Dist for treason. The same division…

"What happened to Raine is truly a tragedy. Don't be too hard on yourself though. I'm sure she wouldn't want you to be this upset." Jade said in a fatherly voice, "She'd want you to be happy."

"Was it you…?" Luke muttered in a low growl. His emotions of sorrow and self-loath slowly dissolved into pure anger. The sight of this man before him burned slowly inside.

"Excuse me Luke?" Jade replied, not hearing the man.

"Was it you!" Luke barked as he slammed his palm into the glass that separated the two, "You did this…didn't you!"

The startled Jade maintained his cool composure as he replied, "Luke…let me explain."

"Just like Dist…" Luke hissed under his breath.

Immediately, Reid walked over and pulled Luke away from the window, "Return to your cell." Luke resisted at first but soon subdued to Reid's command as he was dragged back to his cell.

Feverishly, Luke gripped the bars of the cell tightly. This immediately summoned Guy's attention as he came over and pulled Luke back, "Hey, calm down a bit." Luke's eyes still glared through the bars, "Your case is tomorrow. Don't make this any worse for yourself."

Listening to his cellmate's words, Luke's grip loosened from the bars and his arm slid back to his side. Guy sighed in relief as his cellmate calmed down from that burst of anger. It would've been hell to be trapped in a cell with an angry lunatic.

* * *

The trial was only hours away. Reid, who requested to be the bailiff, led Luke to his seat on the defence side. Genis and Regal were also led into the courtroom. They sat in the front row behind the prosecution desk.

The jury slowly began filling up the seats they had to the side of the court. Luke watched as several of them shot glares at him. Innocent until proven guilty wasn't the case. It was and always will be guilty until proven innocent.

"You got the information you need?" Arche asked Lloyd by the door.

"Yeah, I have enough to prove the murder didn't occur in the room, prove where the murder did occur, and prove Luke's innocence." Lloyd replied, "This will be no problem at all."

"I have also added some information of my own." Veigue added, "It concerns the new furniture that was shipped in the day Raine was murdered as well as the camera repairing on the same day."

Lloyd nodded, "Thank you for the help. I shall look over them." Lloyd stroked his chin as he looked over Veigue's clothes, "Nice suit! You look like you could've been a bodyguard. I didn't know you could afford such nice clothes."

"Leon got them for us."

Stahn posed in the reflection of the window as he fixed the collar of his beige suit, "Man! I look good." He complemented with a toothy smile, "Hey Leon! Where did you get these?"

Leon himself wore a charcoal suit with a grey shirt and white tie, "I went to the Altamira Hotel. Zelos lent me a few." A large smile was plastered on Stahn's face, "What are you smiling about?"

"You just wanted to see Sheena."

"That's not important at the moment." Leon replied hastily, "And I went to see Zelos, not Sheena." Stahn maintained the cheeky grin on his face, "I'm going to talk with Lloyd." He growled as he turned away from Stahn, "You, Irving." Leon greeted as he approached the spiky-haired lawyer, "You have everything ready."

"As ready as I'll ever be." Lloyd muttered with a flip of his spiky hair, "The only thing left to think about would be Legretta the quick's rebuttals." His head gestured over to the blonde woman standing calmly by the doors, "What a woman, and what a prosecutor."

Leon's eyes narrowed. The only thing standing in the way of Luke's freedom was this woman, "Is she that good?"

"I'm honoured to meet you." Veigue addressed to Legretta with a shake of her hand, "I've seen you many times on late night talk shows. You are truly a genius at your work."

Leon and Stahn glanced over at Veigue in confusion, "What kind of talk show do you watch at night?" They both thought in unison.

Legretta chuckled and shook his hand, "I'm glad to see I have a fan. Please, I must prepare." Veigue nodded in agreement and gave her some space.

As people began to fill the court room, Jade also made his appearance as he stepped in and took a seat behind Luke. Aware of his presence, Luke turned away from him. Talking with the man could only cause more trouble.

"Luke," Jade whispered in a fatherly voice. "This…this isn't what you think." Luke said nothing, "I did not kill her." Still nothing in reply, "It…it was Dist." This immediately caught Luke's attention. He shifted around in his chair to look at Jade, "It was a mistake not to kill him that time. We used him for experimenting instead." Luke said nothing. His eyes only slowly widened. Jade pushed up his glasses. The sweat on his face caused them to slide down, "He had broken out and plotted to take revenge on Raine. I apologize. We should've stopped him at the bud instead of making this worse."

With a few blinks, Luke turned away, "You're lying. You just…" There wasn't any better time to say it, "You just don't want your precious vessel to be lost."

No witty response? No comeback? No acting ignorant or oblivious to what he was saying? Luke was afraid to turn around. He didn't want to see Jade's reaction. As soon as Luke's eyes returned to the front, they met with the demon detective's. He shuddered at the sight of them. If glares could kill, consider detective Kratos the nuke bomb.

At the same time, Lloyd and the freelancers were entering the court. Right at the middle of the lane, Kratos and Lloyd exchanged glares before splitting to sit in the rows. While Veigue ignored it and Stahn remained clueless, Leon was rather curious on their grudge. After all, since Kratos was the detective of this crime, he could've had a lot of answers.

"Lloyd and Kratos don't get along well at all." Arche mentioned from behind Leon with a nod.

"Are they rivals in the business?" Leon asked as he twisted his head around.

"Nope! Kratos is his father."

The silence between them was awkward beyond awkward. Leon gave a glance to Kratos and then a glance to Lloyd. The silence was still there so he decided to double-take. There was still silence.

"Did Kratos have a child when he was two?" Leon hissed in inquiry.

"Oh no, he just looks super young." Arche replied with a nod, "Yep! After his mother died, Kratos left Lloyd in the care of someone else to pursue his own career. Lloyd never really forgave his father for leaving him but he did pursue a life in law just to compete against him!"

"Why do you know so much?" Leon asked. Naturally when a pink haired, erratic girl that couldn't speak in a whisper if her life depended on it tells you something, you'd stay rather sceptical.

"Lloyd tells me a lot of things." She replied with a nod, "He doesn't rely on the detective force so he comes straight to me when he needs clues! I've worked beside him for a long, long, long time."

Leon nodded slowly. Could he trust her words? Why not…, "Is that why he got us to do his dirty work?"

Arche gave Leon a toothy grin, reminiscent of Stahn's, "Don't you know why Lloyd's the best? He gets people close to the suspect to do investigations! Detectives can only link evidence to there own experiences. Those close to the suspect can link evidence to the suspect's experiences!" The pink haired girl continued to ramble on until she stopped abruptly, "I bit my tongue…" She muttered as she slumped down in her seat.

Leon held a palm to his face. That was all he could do, "Idiots…" He grumbled as he turned to the front of the court.

Lloyd took a seat next to Luke. Seeing that the man seemed distressed, he decided to give him a bit of a prep talk before the court case began.

"Don't panic Luke. It'll be fine" Lloyd reassured, "Just relax and it'll be over with soon enough."

Luke didn't hear a word Lloyd said. His mind was still trapped in the awkward silence between him and Jade.

"All rise for the honourable Claus F. Lester!" Reid exclaimed.

* * *

I personally know Claus F. Lester as Klarth (I also personally prefer Klarth) but since I've been keeping an english name pattern with this fic, I'll be using his english name. Sadly, I'm not sure when I can get in another chapter, at most, it'll have to be during holidays or before Exam time. To all those still reading, thank you!


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